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Emotion effects in metaphor processing: Evidence from Chinese–English bilinguals

Guorong Yuan,Yi Sun

Published 2025 in International Journal of Bilingualism

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that metaphor can influence emotional processing. However, the question of whether emotion effects on emotion metaphor comprehension in bilinguals has received less attention. Our work explores this area by asking two main questions: (1) whether emotional factors influence Chinese–English bilinguals’ understanding of emotion metaphors, and (2) are there similarities or differences in this impact? This study implemented the affective priming paradigm that adopted language (Chinese, English) × emotional prime type (positive, negative) × congruity (congruent, incongruent) within-subject design. A total of 50 Chinese–English bilinguals participated in a judgment task of emotional valence congruity of prime-target stimuli. The dependent variables are the reaction time and accuracy rates of judgment, and a three-way of language, emotional prime type, and congruity analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. The results indicated that there was an emotion effect on the processing of emotion metaphor. Emotional factors promoted the comprehension of emotion metaphors, but only in the positive condition. In the negative condition, a reversing effect of emotion perception emerged, whereby participants responded faster to a target stimulus that was opposite in valence to the priming stimulus. In addition, participants demonstrated processing disadvantage for L2 emotion metaphors. This study should be the first empirical study that evaluates the emotion effects on emotion metaphor processing in bilinguals, and our discovery of asymmetric emotional influences on the understanding of emotion metaphors is a new finding that has not been previously recorded. Theoretically, our findings lent support to several theoretical frameworks in the metaphor, emotion and bilingual research field, including the Embodied Cognition Theory , Embodiment of Emotion and Theory of Language Embodiment . Empirically, it provides important pedagogical implication for future L2 metaphor teaching, especially those related to emotion factors.

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