The Influence Of Language Experience On Working Memory Under Different Emotion Types

Working memory is a system with limited capacity for temporary processing and storage of information.According to the processing phase of working memory,it can be divided into three stages:processing,storage and retention.Working memory as one of the most important cognitive information processing system is affected by many factors.For instance,the influence of emotion and language experience on working memory is of particular concern.Emotion as an inevitable influencing factor in human information processing runs through the development of human beings.Due to the increasing international exchange of language experience,the bilingual cognitive advantage brought by language experience has also received continuous attention from many researchers.So whether language experience has an impact on the three stages of working memory or whether it only shows a certain advantage in the execution function of the processing stage is worthy of our research.In addition,whether this advantage is affected by different emotion types also requires further research.This research divided the language experience into three groups,including the non-proficient bilingual group,the proficient bilingual group,and the trilingual group In the bilingual group,Chinese was used as the first language and English was used as the second language.They were divided into proficient and non-proficient groups according to the proficiency of English.The trilingual groups were all ethnic minorities in China,with minority languages as their first language,Chinese as a second language,and English as a third language.The study divided the four basic emotions of happiness,sadness,anger,and fear into two types:positive emotions(happiness)and negative emotions(anger,sadness,and fear).Neutral emotions(no emotions)were added as the baseline control group.The two factors of language experience and emotional type are combined to explore the specific effects on the three stages of working memory.The results of this research showed that:(1)Compared with non-proficient bilinguals,proficient bilinguals have cognitive advantages in storage capacity,maintaining ability,and updating ability of working memory;(2)Trilinguals only have a cognitive advantage in maintaining ability of working memory compared to bilinguals;(3)Emotion can promote the storage capacity and updating ability of working memory,and it has a decision-making trend on maintaining ability;(4)The influence on working memory has no significant differences between positive and negative emotions;(5)The influence of language experience on working memory under emotion context only occurs in storage capacity and maintaing ability,and has no effect on updating ability.