Project

Language of emotion and deception - A multimodal psycholinguistic approach to uncovering verbal and non-verbal cues in mono- and bilinguals

Code
bof/baf/1y/2025/01/001
Duration
01 January 2025 → 31 December 2025
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Promotor
Research disciplines
  • Humanities and the arts
    • Psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics
  • Social sciences
    • Cognitive processes
    • Learning and behaviour
    • Motivation and emotion
    • Social behaviour and social action
Keywords
bilingualism foreign language effect language deception gestures emotion
 
Project description

The present study aims to explore dimensions of monolingual and bilingual emotionality and

deception via a psycholinguistic, multimodal approach, by assessing the verbal and non-verbal

performance of speakers of Dutch, German and English. We aim to determine the similarities and/or

differences in language and behaviour in emotional and deceptive contexts of communication. A set

of studies will scrutinise the behaviour of monolinguals and bilinguals when engaging in emotional v.

non-emotional and deceptive v. non-deceptive conversations across their native language (L1), and

for bilinguals also their second language (L2). We will assess verbal language via investigations of

vocabulary, linguistic profile, syntactic complexity, as well as acoustic variables. In addition to that,

emotional responses shall be captured via measures of galvanic skin responses, eye tracking, and

electrophysiological signals. Further, we will investigate co-speech hand gestures and bodily

movements. The resulting linguistic and behavioural profiles will inform us whether bilinguals exhibit

similar or distinct characteristics from monolinguals in emotional situations and during deception. It

will also reveal possible differences between bilinguals' verbal and non-verbal behaviour in their L2

as opposed to their L1.