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Descriptive Essay : ' Embodiment And Emotional Memory On First Vs. Second Language ``

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The article I selected is “Embodiment and Emotional Memory in First vs. Second Language” by Baumeister, Foroni, Conrad, Rumiati and Winkielman. The reason why I chose to review this article is because as a Bilingual person whose native language is Spanish and second language is English I wanted to know how different my brain and memory reacts to both languages. Especially, I was hoping to find answers in the article and learn more about myself through it. I have always been curious about what happens when I meet someone who only speaks English, will the connection that I create with said person be as strong as a connection I can form with someone who speaks Spanish?. The study discussed in this article targets Spanish and English Speakers …show more content…

However, there are things that I feel more confident talking about in English rather than in Spanish, which to me is weird. This article aims to explain the relationship between feelings, words, languages and the reaction of your brain, memory and even facial muscles to interactions in two different languages, which makes me feel identified. I am also very interested in neurolinguistics and what happens to our brain when we learn new languages and this article has given me the information I was looking for.
Moving on to the article itself and the study that is being analyzed in it, the authors start by identifying native language as L1 and second language as L2. The purpose of the study was to follow up with previous researchers who have found that language and emotions are linked and that said link is solider in L1 than in L2 which has been acquired far along in life. They wanted to reflect their findings in changes in emotional memory and embodied responses when Spanish and English was being interchangeable between bilingual people. The researchers formulated two hypotheses. The first hypothesis was based on the idea that the processing of emotional words in L2 would result on less embodied simulations (Muscle resonance) that it would in L1 participants. The second hypothesis stated that L2 participants had a harder time processing and categorizing emotional words

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