外语焦虑、紧张情绪与认知负荷对外语说谎的影响:来自中-英双语者的证据

The effects of foreign language anxiety,nervousness and cognitive load on foreign language lying:Evidence from Chinese-English bilinguals

采用错误陈述范式探究中-英双语者用母语和外语说真话和说谎时的认知神经差异,涉及外语焦虑、认知负荷和说谎诱发的紧张情绪。对P200和CNV观察发现:(1)中-英双语者用英语说真话的P200波幅比用母语大,说明被试用英语说话时受外语焦虑情绪影响;(2)中-英双语者用英语说谎与说真话的P200波幅无显著差异,但用母语说谎和讲真话的P200波幅差异显著,说明被试用外语说谎没有用母语说谎诱发的紧张情绪大;(3)中-英双语者说谎时的CNV波幅比说真话时大,说明被试说谎比说真话的认知负荷更大;(4)中-英双语者用英语说谎时的CNV波幅比用汉语说谎时大,说明被试用外语说谎比用母语说谎产生了更大的认知负荷。相关分析表明,英语熟练程度是影响中-英双语者用母语和外语说谎时的认知神经差异的重要变量。

Lying is a common social behavior.When people lie,they are affected by many factors,such as cognitive load and nervousness.Therefore,people act differently when they are lying.Similar to lying,there are also differences in cognitive load and emotions when people speak their native language or a foreign language.When people are speaking a foreign language,the cognitive load and foreign language anxiety are greater than speaking their native language,especially for those with lower proficiency.Therefore,these factors might influence or interact with lying in speaking native or foreign languages.Former studies which observed skin conductance and pupil size have found that comparing to lying in their native language,there are more lying features when people lie in a foreign language.The current study aims to explore the differences in neural mechanism between Chinese-English bilinguals lying in Chinese and English,and focuses on the effects of two specific factors:cognitive load and emotion.The study of 34 Chinese-English bilinguals adopted the misstatement paradigm.During the experiment,participants were required to describe the pictures in Chinese and English on the screen according to the“truth”or“lie”instructions.The accuracy and EEG data were collected for analysis.Two ERP components were found in the study:P200 and CNV(Contingent Negative Variation).P200 is a positive potential that appears at around 200 ms after the stimulus is presented,and is often considered related with emotional arousal.In this study,P200 was used as an indicator for early anxiety.Larger P200 indicates greater anxiety.CNV occurs around 1000~1500 ms after the emergence stimulation.Larger CNV reflects heavier cognitive load and can be an indicator of lying.By observing P200 and CNV,the results are as follow:(1)Comparing with speaking Chinese,there was a lager P200 when Chinese-English bilinguals speak English,which indicated that speaking a foreign language aroused anxiety;(2)The P200s were not significantly different when lying and telling truth in English.However,the P200s were significantly different when lying and telling truth in Chinese,which indicated that comparing with speaking the native language,the tension induced by lying is not as great as speaking a foreign language;(3)Chinese-English bilinguals showed greater CNV when lying than telling truth,which suggested that lying contained heavier cognitive load than telling truth;(4)There was a larger CNV when Chinese-English bilinguals lied in English than in Chinese,which indicated that lying in a foreign language brought heavier cognitive load;(5)The results of correlation analysis showed that English proficiency was an important variable that affected those differences when lying in both native and foreign languages.The current study suggested that both cognitive load and emotion affected lying behavior in either the native or foreign language.Lying brings heavier cognitive load than telling truth,and lying in a foreign language brings heavier cognitive load than in the native language.Moreover,people are more anxious when speaking a foreign language than their native language,no matter when they are lying or telling truth.Foreign language anxiety takes so much cognitive load that the tension caused by lying is not significant when people lie in foreign language.Further research is suggested focusing more on the contribution and interactions of the factors which have effects on the process.