Abstract
Our main objective was to analyse the different contributions of relational verbal reasoning (analogical and class inclusion) and executive functioning to metaphor comprehension across development. We postulated that both relational reasoning and executive functioning should predict individual and developmental differences. However, executive functioning would become increasingly involved when metaphor comprehension is highly demanding, either because of the metaphors’ high difficulty (relatively novel metaphors in the absence of a context) or because of the individual’s special processing difficulties, such as low levels of reading experience or low semantic knowledge. Three groups of participants, 11-year-olds, 15-year-olds and young adults, were assessed in different relational verbal reasoning tasks—analogical and class-inclusion—and in executive functioning tasks—updating information in working memory, inhibition, and shifting. The results revealed clear progress in metaphor comprehension between ages 11 and 15 and between ages 15 and 21. However, the importance of executive function in metaphor comprehension was evident by age 15 and was restricted to updating information in working memory and cognitive inhibition. Participants seemed to use two different strategies to interpret metaphors: relational verbal reasoning and executive functioning. This was clearly shown when comparing the performance of the "more efficient" participants in metaphor interpretation with that of the "less efficient” ones. Whereas in the first case none of the executive variables or those associated with relational verbal reasoning were significantly related to metaphor comprehension, in the latter case, both groups of variables had a clear predictor effect.
Highlights
The study of the cognitive processes involved in metaphor comprehension has been the subject of intense debate in recent years
The debate in recent years has mainly centred on the consideration of metaphors as analogies or as “class-inclusion assertions.”
There is evidence in favour of both alternatives, there has been some evidence relating metaphor interpretation to abilities linked to executive functioning, such as inhibitory processes [9,10,11], the use of attentionally controlled resources [15] cognitive flexibility [36], and working memory (WM) [19, 22]
Summary
The study of the cognitive processes involved in metaphor comprehension has been the subject of intense debate in recent years. One of the main debates has focused on the consideration of nominal metaphors as either “class-inclusion assertions” or analogies. From both perspectives, metaphor comprehension is considered to entail a process of integration of the meaning, which requires reasoning verbally from previously acquired concepts or schemas. Whereas some authors postulated an underlying process of comparison of the metaphor topic and its vehicle based on analogical reasoning [1,2,3,4,5] or between the knowledge domains referred to by the terms contained in the metaphorical relationship [6], other authors (e.g., [7]) defended an underlying process of categorization or class inclusion that would did not imply any comparison, but rather the construction of an ad hoc standard category by the metaphor vehicle. The metaphor topic would restrict the attributional process, indicating its relevant dimensions[8]
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