How do foreign language learning experiences influence the self-reference effect?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• Individuals exhibit a processing bias towards personally relevant information.
• Cultural experiences and priming tasks influence this self-processing bias.
• The enduring impact of language learning on self-processing bias remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if language learning experiences affect self-processing bias.
• To examine the influence of second language (L2) learning on the self-reference effect.
• To compare self-processing biases between L2 beginners and advanced learners.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a decision-making task to assess self-processing bias.
• Employed electroencephalography (EEG) to record event-related potentials (ERPs).
• Analyzed N100, N400, P600 components, and beta bursts in relation to self-relevance.

Main Results:

• Behavioral data showed no significant differences.
• ERP data revealed differences in N400 and P600 components between self-relevant stimuli for advanced learners.
• Advanced learners exhibited distinct neural patterns (N100, early N400, beta burst) compared to beginners, suggesting a more pronounced self-reference effect.

Conclusions:

• The self-reference effect is present in both L2 beginners and advanced learners, but more pronounced in advanced learners.
• Advanced learners, particularly those with extensive English experience, may adopt independent self-construal, enhancing focus on self-related information.
• Language learning acts as an intermediate influence, potentially inducing a stable processing bias related to self-construal.