The Adapted AMP as a Tool for Words’ Emotion Learning: Modulation by Lexical Concreteness and Social Cues

Abstract

Despite increasing interest in emotional aspects of vocabulary learning, language education still lacks effective methods to both induce and assess emotional meaning acquisition. The present study introduces the Affective Misattribution Procedure (AMP) as a novel and pedagogically relevant tool for exploring how neutral words can acquire emotional connotations through incidental exposure. By combining AMP with lexical concreteness judgments and socially embedded emotional cues, we investigated how learners integrate affective information into vocabulary representations. During the learning phase, participants viewed emotionally expressive images (happy, fearful, angry, and sad) followed by a concreteness judgment of neutral words. Emotional ratings before and after learning were compared to assess emotional acquisition. Results showed that concrete ones could acquire happy and fearful emotional valence. Social cues enhanced the acquisition of positive emotions in concrete words and negative emotions in abstract words. These findings offer both theoretical and methodological contributions to affective vocabulary learning. AMP not only enables implicit measurement of emotional meaning acquisition but also serves as a powerful design for emotion-integrated vocabulary instruction. This study supports the development of emotionally responsive language learning materials and highlights the potential of AMP as a bridge between language learning, emotional engagement, and pedagogical innovation.