Emotional word processing in bilinguals: An oscillatory cascade from perception to regulation in the second language

Processing emotionally negative words in a second language (L2) feels less vivid and more cognitively demanding than in the first language (L1), yet the neural mechanisms underlying this difference remain poorly understood. Using single-trial modelling of event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs), we examined attention allocation to negative versus neutral words in highly proficient late Polish–English bilinguals performing a semantic categorisation task in a modified oddball paradigm. Valence and language modulated early posterior negativity (EPN) and P300, but not the N400. Mass-univariate analysis detected valence modulations in the N400 range, highlighting limitations of classic ERP approaches. Time–frequency analysis further revealed Language × Valence interactions: negative L2 words selectively elicited a cascade of delta, theta and alpha synchronisation from posterior to frontal regions across 59–641 ms, consistent with successive perceptual, lexical-semantic and regulatory processing stages. Emotional processing in L2 is thus qualitatively distinct, more effortful and regulated rather than simply being less efficient.