Structure‐Mapping in Metaphor Comprehension

Metaphor has a double life. It can be described as a directional process in which a stable, familiar base domain provides inferential structure to a less clearly specified target. But metaphor is also described as a process of finding commonalities, an inherently symmetric process. In this second vi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognitive science 2011-11, Vol.35 (8), p.1456-1488
Main Authors: Wolff, Phillip, Gentner, Dedre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analogy
Association
Biological and medical sciences
Career of metaphor
Cognition & reasoning
Comprehension
Concept Formation
Embodied metaphor
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Imagination
Information processing
Judgment
Language
Language Tests
Mental Recall
Metaphor
Models, Psychological
Production and perception of written language
Psycholinguistics - methods
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Recognition (Psychology)
Structural alignment
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Summary:Metaphor has a double life. It can be described as a directional process in which a stable, familiar base domain provides inferential structure to a less clearly specified target. But metaphor is also described as a process of finding commonalities, an inherently symmetric process. In this second view, both concepts may be altered by the metaphorical comparison. Whereas most theories of metaphor capture one of these aspects, we offer a model based on structure‐mapping that captures both sides of metaphor processing. This predicts (a) an initial processing stage of symmetric alignment; and (b) a later directional phase in which inferences are projected to the target. To test these claims, we collected comprehensibility judgments for forward (e.g., “A rumor is a virus”) and reversed (“A virus is a rumor”) metaphors at early and late stages of processing, using a deadline procedure. We found an advantage for the forward direction late in processing, but no directional preference early in processing. Implications for metaphor theory are discussed.
ISSN:0364-0213
1551-6709
DOI:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01194.x