La distancia emocional respecto al español como lengua extranjera

Abstract

The phenomenon of emotional reduction has been conceptualized since Freud, but its existence was only based on indirect evidence such as a greater use of the second language to deal with embarrassing topics. However, this inference was limited, since there may be other causes for this distancing and when it occurs it can have different consequences. For this reason, scientific studies that empirically demonstrate the existence of this phenomenon are important. In those studies, measuring instruments such as skin conductance, functional magnetic resonance imaging and pupil dilation were used. Thus, in this chapter, a summary of these classic studies and their results is presented, while explaining the phenomenon and its causes in a scientific way, by analyzing in detail both the cognitive load hypothesis and the contextual explanation. Likewise, this phenomenon is linked to language learning and the didactic implications that it has. Finally, some conclusions and reflections and ideas for future research are presented.