“It’s consistent and replicable,” says Simone Sulpizio, an associate professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, who conducted a recent meta-analysis examining the evidence to date, though both he and Białek emphasise that we need more research into the mechanisms behind the effect.

Keysar’s latest study, led by his PhD student Leigh Grant, has shown that the foreign language effect can discourage the creation of false memories.

In a follow-up experiment, the team showed participants two clips of robberies from the films The Pink Panther and Rififi, before playing them audio narratives of the same events that contained some false details.

Silvia Purpuri at the University of Trento, Italy has examined “tolerance of ambiguity”, which concerns people’s appreciation of uncertainty, and their willingness to enter unfamiliar situations.

And if you are considering a controversial new environmental policy, you might try to read about it in a foreign newspaper: the research suggests that this may render you more open-minded to the facts at hand and less easily swayed by your immediate gut reaction.

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