Individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing: an eye movement study of sentence reading.

Georgie Columbus,Marilena Cã´Tã©-Lecaldare,Debra Titone,Katja Hã¤User,Naveed A Sheikh,Shari R Baum

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.01057

Abstract

Metaphors are common elements of language that allow us to creatively stretch the limits of word meaning. However, metaphors vary in their degree of novelty, which determines whether people must create new meanings on-line or retrieve previously known metaphorical meanings from memory. Such variations affect the degree to which general cognitive capacities such as executive control are required for successful comprehension. We investigated whether individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing using eye movement measures of reading. Thirty-nine participants read sentences including metaphors or idioms, another form of figurative language that is more likely to rely on meaning retrieval. They also completed the AX-CPT, a domain-general executive control task. In Experiment 1, we examined sentences containing metaphorical or literal uses of verbs, presented with or without prior context. In Experiment 2, we examined sentences containing idioms or literal phrases for the same participants to determine whether the link to executive control was qualitatively similar or different to Experiment 1. When metaphors were low familiar, all people read verbs used as metaphors more slowly than verbs used literally (this difference was smaller for high familiar metaphors). Executive control capacity modulated this pattern in that high executive control readers spent more time reading verbs when a prior context forced a particular interpretation (metaphorical or literal), and they had faster total metaphor reading times when there was a prior context. Interestingly, executive control did not relate to idiom processing for the same readers. Here, all readers had faster total reading times for high familiar idioms than literal phrases. Thus, executive control relates to metaphor but not idiom processing for these readers, and for the particular metaphor and idiom reading manipulations presented.

Highlights

Many instances of language incorporate metaphorical uses of words, some of which are familiar but some of which are unfamiliar
In Experiment 1, we examined whether domain-general executive control related to how people read verbs used metaphorically or literally as a function of familiarity and prior context
We found that readers with high but not low executive control took the prior context into account at the point of the verb on the first pass: They exhibited longer Verb GD when a prior context occurred, irrespective of metaphor familiarity

Summary

Introduction

Many instances of language incorporate metaphorical uses of words, some of which are familiar but some of which are unfamiliar. Consider The students grasped the concept, where the verb grasp refers to taking hold of something conceptually rather than physically (its literal interpretation). Such common metaphors may generally go unnoticed. The metaphorical meaning is not as familiar as it was for grasp, the mental effort required to comprehend this sentence may increase because its intended metaphorical meaning must be generated in the moment (Kintsch, 2000; Kazmerski et al, 2003; Cardillo et al, 2012) Consider The textbooks snored on the desk where snore means “to go unused,” which is metaphorically related to its typical literal meaning, “the sound one makes when one is asleep.” Here, the metaphorical meaning is not as familiar as it was for grasp, the mental effort required to comprehend this sentence may increase because its intended metaphorical meaning must be generated in the moment (Kintsch, 2000; Kazmerski et al, 2003; Cardillo et al, 2012)

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Conclusion