People learn new words in narrative contexts. Little is known about the potential influence of emotional valence of the text on word learning. In a pre-registered experiment, we investigated whether emotional narrative context shapes word learning. English adults (N = 76) read 30 novel words embedded in 60 short narratives (20 positive, 20 negative, and 20 neutral valence). Post-tests assessed learning (immediate and 24 hours later) and investigated whether there was a transfer of contextual valence to the novel word. Compared to the neutral context, emotional contexts (both positive and negative) facilitated word form learning in the immediate post-tests, but only negative emotion words were recognized better 24 hours later. Furthermore, the valence of the context was reflected in the word meanings participants generated for each novel word. These findings are discussed with reference to theories of embodied cognition and its implications for supporting the learning of abstract concepts.

Authors:

Yuzhen Dong: University of Oxford; Matthew HC Mak: University of Warwick; Robert Hepach: University of Oxford; Kate Nation: University of Oxford