Fascinating paper: [*Your Morals Depend on Language* (Costa et al., 2014)][1].

[julian@fietkau.social]

@hongminhee I have often noticed that it's a lot easier to swear in a second language, because the emotional hurdle is lower. I've always considered that it could be because I wasn't raised in it. Maybe it's a related mechanism.

[hongminhee@hollo.social]

@julian@fietkau.social Yes, that's actually cited in the paper as supporting evidence: swearwords in a foreign language produce weaker physiological responses than in a native one, so it very likely is the same mechanism running in reverse. I personally avoid swearing in foreign languages because I can never be fully sure of the nuance, but I do notice people around me swear more freely in their second languages, which fits the pattern exactly.

[some@hachyderm.io]

@hongminhee "Thinking in a foreign language feels like rendering graphics without GPU acceleration" is such a good way to put it!

[hongminhee@hollo.social]

@some@hachyderm.io Thank you! It's actually a metaphor that came to me when I first learned about System 1 vs. System 2 thinking. A foreign language seems to throttle the GPU, which forces more work onto the CPU, and it turns out a lot of that “GPU work” is the emotional system quietly pre-computing your judgments for you.

[some@hachyderm.io]

@hongminhee seeing this made me think of my own personal experience learning languages as an enthusiast but also as in immigrant. I find that getting emotional in a foreign language, forces the processing from the CPU to the GPU. Nothing sensible will come out, but with 'driver updates', the GPU learns it. 😄 I think this also supports the claim why it's easier to learn curse words than others.

[hongminhee@hollo.social]

@some@hachyderm.io Ha, that's a great extension of the metaphor. Emotional experiences as driver updates; it makes sense that curse words install so fast, they basically come bundled with the driver package. 😂

[mariusor@metalhead.club]

> that the “GPU” doing all that fast, effortless processing is largely the emotional system

@hongminhee I don't think so... to me it sounds more plausible that the neural pathways that are used for native language are a lot more used than the ones for foreign languages so they trigger with less energy expenditure.

Speaking your native language is basically "muscle memory", speaking in a different language is like navigating a maze: you have to plan your route, change direction often, sometimes backtrack all together, and as such is requiring a lot more brain power.

Caveat emptor: these are non scientific musings, I have no citation for anything. :D

[mariusor@metalhead.club]

@hongminhee but then again, perhaps the reason why those neural pathways are so well tuned to work together for the native language is indeed that limbic system. :D

[hongminhee@hollo.social]

@mariusor@metalhead.club That's a fair point, and your caveat at the end might actually reconcile the two: the pathways got so well-worn partly because the limbic system kept reinforcing them.

[mariusor@metalhead.club]

@hongminhee and perhaps something which is not entirely related to the discussion.

A check failure in the game Disco Elysium brings the "Limbic system" character to the forefront to give one of the most "emotional" renditions of a song I've heard in a game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn2x9CSSvhs

If this does not make sense to anyone, but has you intrigued, you should go and play the game, it's really good.

[mariusor@metalhead.club]

@hongminhee for contrast the successful check song rendition (courtesy of the Reptilian Brain): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcsZsLLuUhQ

[hongminhee@hollo.social]

@mariusor@metalhead.club Oh, I actually tried Disco Elysium once but gave up partway through. There was just so much to read, and I hit it on a low-energy stretch. It's on my list to return to someday. That clip is a good reminder.