To Dub or Not to Dub –That is the question!An fMRI study on the processing of funny clips in L2

Abstract

Recent behavioural research provides evidence that people using a foreign language (L2) make substantially more utilitarian decisions when presented with moral dilemmas. It is argued that this is due to a reduced emotional response elicited by the foreign language, even when levels of proficiency are high. Neuroscientific evidence has proved the existence of two independent networks, which seem to work in parallel: one that is characterized by ventral ACC, associated with moral and emotional judgments; and another network represented by left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Broca's area) and dorsomedial/dorsal ACC, associated with utilitarian judgements. Interestingly, this pattern of brain activations coincides with the areas involved in second language (L1) processing; studies on L2 processing have shown an overlap between language areas and also areas of utilitarian judgements. In this pilot study, we aimed to investigate with fMRI whether emotional processing differed between a native and a foreign language using emotional (funny) and neutral clips extracted from the TV series Silicon Valley in participants with a high proficiency in English. This was done in an attempt to simulate conditions in movie theatres were original versions are screened and hence, to approach the current debate about the appropriateness of dubbing films or screening them in the original version with subtitles. We hypothesised a reduced engagement of regions associated with emotional processing such as insula and anterior cingulate as well as more activation of semantic processing while watching English funny videos. We found that funny videos presented in a foreign language activated less brain regions associated with emotional processing in favour of the recruitment of more cognitive areas.