When words paint fainter pictures: L2 usage and the vividness of mental imagery

Mental imagery allows us to simulate events and experiences and plays a crucial role in language comprehension. Vividness, defined as the subjective richness and clarity of these simulations, varies across individuals and contexts. Whether mental imagery vividness decreases when processing in a non-native (L2) compared to a native (L1) language remains debated (Montero-Melis et al., 2020). Reductions in L2 vividness have been attributed either to intrinsic limitations of L2 processing or factors such as proficiency, usage, and linguistic distance (Blazhenkova et al., 2023; Hayakawa & Keysar, 2018). From a neurocognitive perspective, diminished imagery vividness in L2 may reflect weaker engagement of emotional and sensory–motor systems, together with greater reliance on executive control processes that support effortful language use. We tested these accounts by examining how L1-L2 vividness is modulated by L2 usage and L1 background in a cross-linguistic design. Fifty-eight proficient users of English (L2) with either Swedish (N = 29) or Finnish (N = 29) L1 listened to narratives in both their L1 and L2 while providing vividness ratings. L2 usage was quantified as the proportion of self-reported L2 versus L1 use (LEAP-Q questionnaire). Results revealed significantly lower vividness in L2, modulated by both L1 background and L2 usage. Finnish L1 participants showed a larger L1-L2 vividness gap, consistent with greater linguistic distance. Crucially, this gap decreased with higher L2 use across both language groups. These findings demonstrate that the degree of L2 usage is key to understanding how linguistic processing shapes the experiential quality of mental imagery.