Processing newly learned L2 emotional words in contexts: the influence of emotional resonance on N400 and LPC...

This study investigated how newly learned L2 emotional words are processed in sentential contexts and how individual differences in emotional resonance modulate those processes. 23 native Mandarin Chinese speakers and 20 Chinese-as-L2 speakers completed a learning session in which Chinese pseudowords were paired with faces expressing disgust or sadness; on the following day participants' ERPs were recorded while they judged the emotional congruency between emotional sentences and learned pseudowords. L2 participants also completed the Reduced Emotional Resonance in LX questionnaire (RER-LX) to index self-perceived L2 emotional competence. ERPs were analyzed in the N400 (250-430 ms) and LPC (450-700 ms) time windows. Results showed reliably larger N400 and LPC amplitudes for incongruent than congruent trials, confirming successful learning of associations between pseudowords and specific emotion categories. Compared with L1 speakers, L2 speakers exhibited reduced N400 and enhanced LPC amplitudes overall. However, the N400 congruency effects were more pronounced for L2 than L1 speakers, suggesting weaker prediction-driven processing in L2. Emotion categories produced distinct temporal signatures as sadness incongruity modulated the LPC to a larger extent. Critically, individual differences in emotional resonance among L2 speakers predicted neural patterns: participants with greater emotional resonance showed more robust congruency effects for disgusting pseudowords. These findings highlight that L2 processing of learned emotion category mappings depends both on emotion category and on speakers' self-reported emotional resonance in L2, with implications for theories of bilingual emotion and for emotion-aware L2 pedagogy.