The effect of referential and emotional information on novel word learning: an fNIRS study

The current study utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy to examine the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of referential and emotional information on novel word learning. After learning the meaning of novel words in different sentences, participants were asked to complete a semantic consistency judgment task and a source judgment task. The behavioral data and neural data were recorded simultaneously. The results showed that: (1) referential information affected the novel word learning; (2) the interaction between referential and emotional information was significant; (3) these effects were associated with neural activities in the frontal and temporal lobe, mainly in the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the inferior frontal gyrus, the middle temporal gyrus, the superior temporal gyrus, and the premotor and supplementary motor cortex. The findings suggested that self-referential information could promote the novel word learning. Notably, referential and emotional information jointly affected the novel word learning in the frontal and temporal lobe, indicating the integrative contributions of both referential and emotional information to novel word learning.