Introduction Emotional valence influences word processing, and this effect is modulated by word concreteness, but findings remain inconsistent in L2 contexts—especially among Chinese-English learners. Methods Based on the Embodied Cognition Theory, we adopted a 3 (valence: positive/neutral/negative) × 2 (concreteness: abstract/concrete) mixed-factorial design and a lexical decision task to test 57 late Chinese-English bilinguals. Results (1) The valence × concreteness interaction was significant in accuracy (emotion advantage was larger for concrete than abstract words) but not in reaction time; (2) The main effect of concreteness was significant: abstract words were processed faster and more accurately than concrete words. Discussion Emotional valence exerts functionally different effects on L2 concrete/abstract word processing—concrete words benefit more from emotional facilitation via sensorimotor connections, while abstract words rely on emotional information to compensate for limited sensorimotor grounding.
Zhang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.