Eye-tracking emotional responses and moral decisions in bilingual contexts

Research suggests that moral decision-making is influenced by whether individuals use their first language (L1) or second language (L2). However, little is known about how bilinguals allocate their attention when making moral choices. The present study addressed this gap. We collected data from 89 Chinese-English bilinguals, who responded to five moral dilemmas in their L1 or L2 and indicated the emotional intensity they experienced while their eye movements were recorded. These data were analysed using mixed-effects linear and logistic regression models. The results revealed that, in L1, an increased number of fixations on the moral question was associated with higher self-reported emotional intensity, whereas longer first-run dwell time on the moral question predicted more deontological choices. In L2, by contrast, a greater number of fixations on the emotion scale, the moral question, and the moral choice, as well as longer regression path duration on the emotion scale, were linked to more utilitarian decisions. Additionally, longer viewing times on the emotion scale were associated with a higher likelihood of choosing the deontological option. However, descriptive patterns of final moral choices did not indicate a clear behavioural moral foreign language effect in this sample. These findings contribute to ongoing debates about how language influences emotion and cognition, providing evidence that moral reasoning patterns in L1 and L2 may be associated with language-specific patterns of attentional engagement during moral decision-making.