Does native culture restore emotional intensity? Distinct effects of cultural context on L2 affective processing

Abstract Bilinguals often experience reduced emotional resonance in their second language (L2), known as “emotional distance.” This study investigates how cultural context, specifically culture relatedness, modulates this experience in late Mandarin-English bilinguals. We employed a multi-methodological approach to disentangle implicit and explicit processing. Study 1 (Implicit Association Test) revealed no automatic bias linking culture to emotion, suggesting that long-term L2 immersion may equilibrate implicit associations. Study 2 (explicit ratings), however, found a significant interaction: priming native (Chinese) culture led participants to evaluate negative L2 words as more negative, whereas the L2 (British) cultural context attenuated these evaluations, reinforcing emotional distance. Positive words remained unaffected. These findings demonstrate that culture is an active modulator of bilingual emotion. While acculturation may balance implicit links, conscious activation of native cultural schemas can bridge L2 emotional distance for aversive content, whereas L2 contexts serve to buffer emotional intensity.