Affective modulation of cross-language activation is domain general

Previous studies have shown that negative words in a second language (L2) can block automatic access to first language (L1) representations. It is unknown, however, whether such emotion-driven inhibition is limited to linguistic processing or whether it extends to domain-general cognition. To test this, we engaged Chinese-English bilinguals in an implicit translation priming paradigm, in which the emotional context was set by a picture. In each trial, participants reported whether either of two L2 words related semantically to the preceding contextual picture, whilst being unaware that some of the word pairs concealed a phonological overlap through L1. Remarkably, negative –but not positive– pictures prevented access to L1 translation equivalents. Chinese control participants, on the other hand, showed repetition priming in Chinese irrespective of image valence. These findings show that emotional modulation of language non-selective lexical access in bilinguals can be triggered equally effectively by nonverbal cues since negative pictures produce an inhibitory effect similar to that observed for negative prime words. This suggests, at variance with a traditionally modularist and encapsulated view of language, that interactions between language and other aspects of higher human cognition are reciprocal–word meaning triggers emotion, emotion regulates access to word meaning–and highly integrated.