Figurative Language Processing Research Articles

Metaphor comprehension and production in verbally able children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Research in the field of figurative language processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has demonstrated that autistic individuals experience systematic difficulties in the comprehension of different types of metaphors. However, there is scarce evidence regarding metaphor production skills in ASD. Importantly, the exact source of metaphor processing difficulties in ASD remains largely controversial. The debate has mainly focused on the mediating role of structural language skills (i.e., lexical knowledge) and cognitive abilities (i.e., Theory of Mind and executive functions) in ASD individuals' ability to comprehend and generate metaphors. The present study examines metaphor comprehension and production in 18 Greek-speaking verbally able children with ASD and 31 typically-developing (TD) controls. Participants completed two tasks, namely, a low-verbal multiple-choice sentence-picture matching task that tested their ability to comprehend conventional predicate metaphors, and a sentence continuation task that assessed their ability to generate metaphors. The study also included measures of fluid intelligence, expressive vocabulary, and working memory within the sample. The results show that the ASD group had significantly lower performance than the TD group in both metaphor comprehension and production. The findings also reveal that expressive vocabulary skills were a key factor in the metaphor comprehension and production performance of the children with ASD. Working memory capacity was also found to correlate significantly with metaphor comprehension performance in the ASD group. Conversely, no correlations were found in the TD group with neither of the above factors. Of note, children with ASD generated significantly more inappropriate responses and no-responses to the metaphor production task compared with the control group. The overall results reveal that children with ASD had difficulty with both comprehending and using metaphorical language. The findings also indicate that TD children may employ diverse cognitive strategies or rely on different underlying skills when processing metaphors compared with children with ASD.

Affective and sensory–motor norms for idioms by L1 and L2 English speakers

AbstractIn the present study, we developed affective (valence and arousal) and sensory–motor (concreteness and imageability) norms for 210 English idioms rated by native English speakers (L1) and English second-language speakers (L2). Based on internal consistency analyses, the ratings were found to be highly reliable. Furthermore, we explored various relations within the collected measures (valence, arousal, concreteness, and imageability) and between these measures and some available psycholinguistic norms (familiarity, literal plausibility, and decomposability) for the same set of idioms. The primary findings were that (i) valence and arousal showed the typical U-shape relation, for both L1 and L2 data; (ii) idioms with more negative valence were rated as more arousing; (iii) the majority of idioms were rated as either positive or negative with only 4 being rated as neutral; (iv) familiarity correlated positively with valence and arousal; (v) concreteness and imageability showed a strong positive correlation; and (vi) the ratings of L1 and L2 speakers significantly differed for arousal and concreteness, but not for valence and imageability. We discuss our interpretation of these observations with reference to the literature on figurative language processing (both single words and idioms).

Figurative language processing in autism spectrum disorders: A review.

Impairments in the broader domain of pragmatics are considered to be a defining feature of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A challenging aspect of pragmatic competence is the ability to process nonliteral language. Interestingly, previous studies in figurative language comprehension in ASD have demonstrated conflicting results regarding participants' performance. The main scientific debate focuses on the underlying skills which facilitate processing of nonliteral speech in ASD. Namely, Theory of Mind (ToM), language abilities and Executive functions (EFs) are regarded as factors affecting autistic individuals' performance. This review addresses figurative language comprehension in ASD in light of the above three interpretive accounts. We reviewed data from recent studies in this field concluding that autistic children indeed encounter systematic difficulties in the processing of non-literal language. Moreover, only ToM and verbal skills were found to correlate the most with figurative language comprehension in ASD. Notably, we found that differences related to research methodology and tasks' properties may have led to discrepancies between studies' results. Finally, we argue that future studies should encompass in their experimental design figurative comprehension tasks with minimal linguistic demands and also measures of ToM, verbal ability and EFs in order to shed more light in the independent contribution of those skills to the processing of nonliteral language in ASD.

Taking stock of an idiom's background assumptions: an alternative relevance theoretic account.

This paper begins by presenting the theoretical background of, and the accompanying psycholinguistic findings on, idiom processing. The paper then widens its lens by comparing the idiom processing literature to that of metaphor and irony. We do so partly to better understand the idiom superiority effect, according to which idiomatic sentences (unlike metaphoric and ironic ones) are generally processed faster than their literal controls; part of our motivation is to reconcile the differences between idiom processing, on the one hand, and metaphor and irony processing on the other. This ultimately leads us to Relevance Theory (RT), which has provided original insights into the processing of figurative language generally, but especially with respect to metaphor and irony. RT has paid less attention to idiomatic expressions (such as break the ice, fan the flames, or spill the beans), where one finds a single RT account that likens idioms to conventional metaphors. Through our overview, we ultimately arrive at an alternative RT account of idioms: We argue that idioms include a procedural meaning that takes into account relevant presuppositional information. For example, an idiomatic string such as break the ice not only asserts initiate social contact, it prompts the recovery of background assumptions such as there exists a social distance that calls for relief. This leads us (a) to apply linguistic-intuition tests of our presuppositional hypothesis, and; (b) to describe the paradigm and results from a pilot experiment. Both provide support for our claims. In doing so, we provide an original explanation for the idiom superiority effect.

Descriptive Norms for 1,082 Chilean-Spanish Idiomatic Expressions

Idioms are formulaic expressions that vary in a number of dimensions or psycholinguistic factors. It is suggested that these factors may modulate the way in which the cognitive system stores, accesses and retrieves these expressions from memory. We obtained the normative data of 1.082 Chilean Spanish idioms. A total of 622 volunteers from 18 to 83 years old participated in this research, who ranked the degree of familiarity, ambiguity, transparency and composition of the idioms. Internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, correlation and ANOVA analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of age on the scores of each psycholinguistic dimension. Results showed a high internal consistency for the linguistic dimensions of familiarity, ambiguity and compositionality. However, inter-rater reliability scores were low for all groups and dimensions. Correlational analyses showed positive and significant coefficients among all the linguistic dimensions. Finally, significant differences were observed between all age groups in every psycholinguistic dimension. Results are interpreted in terms of its relevance to the study of figurative language processing.

Rethinking Figurative Language in Autism: What Evidence Can We Use for Interventions?

Problems with the processing and understanding of figurative language have been systematically observed in individuals on the autism spectrum despite preserved structural language skills. In this qualitative review we discuss theoretical considerations of relevance for figurative language processing in neurotypical individuals and individuals with autism across the life-span. We address the factors which influence figurative language processing and their role in the processing of different types of figurative language, with a focus on idioms and metaphors. We address critically the evidence from research, including findings in our own research and recent systematic reviews and the extent to which they offer a reliable picture of potential deficits in figurative language processing in autism and their possible sources. This evidence is discussed from the point of view of insights it offers for interventions targeting non-literal language skills in children and adults with autism.

The Effects of Working Memory Capacity in Metaphor and Metonymy Comprehension in Mandarin-English Bilinguals' Minds: An fMRI Study.

This study investigated the role of working memory capacity (WMC) in metaphoric and metonymic processing in Mandarin–English bilinguals’ minds. It also explored the neural correlations between metaphor and metonymy computations. We adopted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design, which consisted of 21 English dialogic sets of stimuli and 5 conditions: systematic literal, circumstantial literal, metaphor, systematic metonymy, and circumstantial metonymy, all contextualized in daily conversations. Similar fronto-temporal networks were found for the figurative language processing patterns: the superior temporal gyrus (STG) for metaphorical comprehension, and the inferior parietal junction (IPJ) for metonymic processing. Consistent brain regions have been identified in previous studies in the homologue right hemisphere of better WMC bilinguals. The degree to which bilateral strategies that bilinguals with better WMC or larger vocabulary size resort to is differently modulated by subtypes of metonymies. In particular, when processing circumstantial metonymy, the cuneus (where putamen is contained) is activated as higher-span bilinguals filter out irrelevant information, resorting to inhibitory control use. Cingulate gyrus activation has also been revealed in better WMC bilinguals, reflecting their mental flexibility to adopt the subjective perspective of critical figurative items with self-control. It is hoped that this research provides a better understanding of Mandarin–English bilinguals’ English metaphoric and metonymic processing in Taiwan.

Neural differences in social and figurative language processing on the autism spectrum

Individuals on the autism spectrum often have trouble with social and figurative language. As social language is often figurative, it can be challenging to disentangle the cognitive and neural sources of these difficulties. Neural systems for social cognition and language comprehension overlap in areas involved in retrieving linguistic meaning (semantics), such as the anterior temporal lobe (ATL), ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). Using adjective-noun phrases, we manipulated social/nonsocial and figurative/literal dimensions, which we expected to activate distinct but overlapping regions. We hypothesized that activation differences in the group with autism (AUT) would be greater for more social and figurative stimuli. During fMRI, participants in the AUT group (N = 19) and those in the non-autistic comparison (NAC) group (N = 22) made familiarity judgments to 192 phrases in a balanced 2 × 2 (social/nonsocial x figurative/literal) design. Social phrases activated the PCC in all participants, but only the NAC group activated the vmPFC. Figurative phrases were rated as more literal by the AUT group, with the figurative-literal phrase contrast showing no activation in the AUT group, but activating the PCC and right pMTG in the NAC group. The one significant group-level neural difference was for the social-figurative condition predicted to be most different between groups: greater activation for the AUT group in the right ATL. Differences in the right ATL and pMTG in the AUT group suggest altered engagement of right homologues of the canonical semantic network being recruited for processing combined social and figurative language.

Functionality of the N400 component and its application in studies of figurative language processing: a systematic review

Electrophysiological studies have increased in the field of Neuroscience of Language as they allow for detailed analyses of the temporal course of language processing. In figurative language research, the most employed technique is Event Related Potentials (ERPs). The N400 is the most studied ERP component and is usually described as a marker of difficulty or effort in semantic processing. However, many controversial results about N400 have been found. Two main reasons can be raised for these results: (1) methodological difficulties in controlling psycholinguistic variables that are known to affect language processing and (2) different interpretations regarding what the N400 indexes. In this systematic review our main goals are: (1) providing a general panorama of studies on the N400 component applied to metaphoric and idiomatic language and (2) discussing the different views adopted by researchers regarding functional N400 theories and how ERP studies of figurative processing fit into each of those theories. We found two main interpretations about the process which is indexed by the N400: N400 as a marker of lexical access or as a marker of semantic integration. We also found that this dichotomy has an impact on the choice of models to explain the results about figurative language processing.

Processing of Figurative Language: Evidence from Native and Non-Native Language Speakers of English

Processing of Figurative Language: Evidence from Native and Non-Native Language Speakers of English

What is linguistic creativity in schizophrenia?

Background: In an experiment in which clinicians were asked to identify formal thought disorder (FTD) in schizophrenia based on writing samples, the mania and creative writing samples received more FTD diagnoses than the FTD samples. We conducted a systematic review to see whether figuration, associated with both schizophrenia and creative uses of language, could contextualize these findings. Methods: This was a systematic review only (PROSPERO ID:116255). We searched AMED, Child Development and Adolescent Studies, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, and PsycINFO. Results. Many studies used figuration tasks to test creativity and vice versa, and key factors affecting figurative language output and processing were positive and negative symptom ratios, IQ, and schizophrenia subtype. Discussion/conclusion: Our review suggests that the clinicians in the experiment mentioned above perceived FTD as characterized by linguistic markers of verbal and figural creativity that are impacted by FTD itself. FTD is more likely characterized by expressional disfluencies in specific contexts.

Knowledge is a river and education is like a stairway: An eye movement study on how L2 speakers process metaphors and similes

AbstractVery little is known about the processes underlying second language (L2) speakers’ understanding of written metaphors and similes. Moreover, most of the theories on figurative language comprehension do not consider reader-related factors. In the study, we used eye-tracking to examine how native Finnish speakers (N = 63) read written English nominal metaphors (“education is a stairway”) and similes (“education is like a stairway”). Identical topic–vehicle pairs were used in both conditions. After reading, participants evaluated familiarity of each pair. English proficiency was measured using the Bilingual-language Profile Questionnaire and the Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English. The results showed that readers were more likely to regress within metaphors than within similes, indicating that processing metaphors requires more processing effort than processing similes. The familiarity of a metaphor and L2 English proficiency modulated this effect. The results are discussed in the light of current theories on figurative language processing.

The impact of transparency on hemispheric lateralization of idiom comprehension: An rTMS study

Previous neuropsychological data have equivocal suggestions concerning hemispheric involvement during idiom comprehension. The possible contribution of idioms transparency to the lateralization of figurative language comprehension has not been investigated using an interference technique. To analyse the cortical lateralization of idiom transparency processing, we employed inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during the processing of opaque idioms, transparent idioms, and non-idiomatic literal phrases. Based on the Coarse Semantic Coding theory, we predicted a greater right hemisphere involvement when processing opaque than transparent idioms. Eighteen young healthy participants underwent rTMS pulses at 1 Hz frequency, 110% of motor threshold intensity for 15 min (900 pulses) in two sessions at one-week intervals. In a semantic decision task, participants judged the relatedness of an idiom and a target word. The target word was figuratively or literally related to the idiom, or unrelated. The study also included non-idiomatic sentences. We found that left DLPFC functions are more critical for comprehension of opaque rather than transparent idioms when referring to the figurative associations of the idioms. Opaque idioms, in the context of their figurative meaning, rely more heavily on left hemisphere resources. This finding suggests that opaque idioms are seemingly processed as one unit. Taken together, we believe that the transparency of idiomatic expressions may play an important role in modulating hemispheric functions involved in figurative language processing.

Extending the Field of Extended Language: A Literature Review on Figurative Language Processing in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Figurative and extended uses of language are nonliteral utterances such as irony, sarcasm, and idioms and comprise a core part of social interaction. Children with typical development (TD) show a progressive adultlike understanding of figurative language around the age of ten. In contrast, individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or developmental language disorder often display difficulties with figurative language. However, these difficulties are a puzzle in that the actual underlying causes remain unclear. Those individuals who struggle with understanding figurative language need support through effective interventions. These should be based on solid research findings, which is often problematic as research in this field is characterized by conflicting and incomplete findings. The intention of this study is to conduct a literature review of both available studies and those intervention programs that seek to improve figurative language abilities in these atypical populations. This review will not only provide an overview of available intervention programs but also reveal the research gaps through critically appraising earlier studies. This is done as, in a manner of speaking, research reflects our theoretical understanding of the topic at hand, while interventions reflect the ways in which they are manifested into practice. This will serve to give the reader a more complete overview of the state of knowledge on figurative language and neurodevelopmental disorders. This article may be read for an overview of the field, but it also aims to point out the areas where additional research is needed. For instance, while figurative language takes many forms, there is a disproportionate scholarly focus on metaphors compared to other types. We will ultimately highlight promising approaches and make suggestions for future directions in terms of research and practice.

On the Role of Bilateral Brain Hypofunction and Abnormal Lateralization of Cortical Information Flow as Neural Underpinnings of Conventional Metaphor Processing Impairment in Schizophrenia: An fMRI and EEG Study

Figurative language processing (e.g. metaphors) is commonly impaired in schizophrenia. In the present study, we investigated the neural activity and propagation of information within neural circuits related to the figurative speech, as a neural substrate of impaired conventional metaphor processing in schizophrenia. The study included 30 schizophrenia outpatients and 30 healthy controls, all of whom were assessed with a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) punchline-based metaphor comprehension task including literal (neutral), figurative (metaphorical) and nonsense (absurd) endings. The blood oxygenation level-dependent signal was recorded with 3T MRI scanner and direction and strength of cortical information flow in the time course of task processing was estimated with a 64-channel EEG input for directed transfer function. The presented results revealed that the behavioral manifestation of impaired figurative language in schizophrenia is related to the hypofunction in the bilateral fronto-temporo-parietal brain regions (fMRI) and various differences in effective connectivity in the fronto-temporo-parietal circuit (EEG). Schizophrenia outpatients showed an abnormal pattern of connectivity during metaphor processing which was related to bilateral (but more pronounced at the left hemisphere) hypoactivation of the brain. Moreover, we found reversed lateralization patterns, i.e. a rightward-shifted pattern during metaphor processing in schizophrenia compared to the control group. In conclusion, the presented findings revealed that the impairment of the conventional metaphor processing in schizophrenia is related to the bilateral brain hypofunction, which supports the evidence on reversed lateralization of the language neural network and the existence of compensatory recruitment of alternative neural circuits in schizophrenia.

Механизмы обработки фигуральных выражений разных типов

Modern models of figurative language processing postulate that figurative expressions (FE), e.g. metaphors, are processed through inclusion of one FE component to the category of another. However, some FE can simply be understood by finding commonalities between FE components. This way of processing is better explained by the early semantic network model, on which modern models of figurative language processing are based. The current study attempts to reveal capabilities of categorization approach and semantic network model to explain mechanisms of different FE processing. Subjects (N=67) performed semantic decision tasks, which required answering the question whether the meaning of the presented adjective corresponds to the meaning of an adjective in the context of an expression presented earlier. The results of reaction time analysis suggest that categorization approach is not exhaustive for the explanation of figurative language processing and some of the effects might be explained in terms of the semantic network model. This indicates that it is necessary to include some semantic network model postulates into modern approaches of figurative language comprehension.

Processing of literal and metaphorical meanings in polysemous verbs: An experiment and its methodological implications

This paper discusses methodological issues related to the implementation of experimental studies that investigate the processing of literal and metaphorical expressions. The first and central aim of the paper is to discuss methodological questions arising from current experimental research on figurative language, such as use of heterogeneous stimuli and their suitability for investigating research questions related to the processing of figurative language. At the center of the methodological discussion is the contextual and cognitive dominance of literal and metaphorical meanings in polysemous words as an important variable in experimental research on figurative language. In this paper, we discuss its importance and propose a possible way of controlling for this variable. The second aim of this paper is to present experimental results that complement the methodological discussion and show that metaphor processing in polysemous words (i.e. very conventionalized figurative meanings) is not necessarily more difficult or special in comparison to processing of literal language if the stimuli are properly balanced. In this paper, we suggest a way to design stimuli that are balanced both in terms of traditional lexical measures as well as dominance of the literal and metaphorical meanings retrieved from corpus data.

Figurative meaning in multimodal work by an autistic artist: a cognitive semantic approach

ABSTRACTResearch on figurative meaning in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) would benefit from considering a greater variety of data types and using more diverse methods. Previous studies have predominantly applied experimental methods to investigate processing of figurative language (mostly metaphor) and have for the most part concluded that individuals with ASD have deficits in figurative language comprehension. In this study, we focus on the creation and communication of figurative meaning in discursively situated and thematically organized verbal, gestural, and pictorial data published by an autistic artist in the form of videos and comics. Across three prominent experiential themes in the data, we isolate types of conceptualizations and generalize over mappings between target and source experiences. We find that the data are rich in figurative meaning expression (e.g., metaphor and metonymy) conveyed through language, co-speech gestures, and pictures in ways that are clearly embodied (experientially based) and that reflect affordances and constraints of these modes of communication. While our case study of meaning production does not contradict previous research on figurative meaning comprehension in populations, it does indicate benefits of taking a broader and multimodal approach to figurative meaning in research on ASD.

How discourse constraints influence neurolinguistic mechanisms during the comprehension of proverbs.

We use event-related brain potential (ERP) methodology to examine the influence of the linguistic markers literally speaking and figuratively speaking on the comprehension of proverbs (e.g., The cat is out of the bag). Our results show that slow cortical potentials at anterior electrode sites varied in amplitude across the proverbs as a function of the presence or absence of the markers, the presence and absence of discourse contexts, and the familiarity of the proverbs. The results demonstrate that the integration of literal meaning into context is easier than figurative meaning, and argues against models of figurative language processing that hold that comprehenders are obligated either to first process the literal or figurative sense of the trope.

Exploring Perceptions of Novelty and Mirth in Elicited Figurative Language Production

ABSTRACT Most research of figurative language production examines naturalistic discourse. However, laboratory studies of elicited figurative language production are useful because they provide insight into whether specific individual differences are associated with differences in figurative language production ability. In this sense, elicited figurative language production studies mirror the approach many studies of figurative language processing and comprehension take. Accordingly, this study is an investigation into perceptions of novelty and mirth associated with figurative language production. Data in this study come from elicited figurative language production tasks for metaphorical comparisons and sarcastic replies, which were rated based on perceptions of novelty and mirth as well as conceptual distance (metaphors) and incongruity (sarcastic replies). Two individual differences, Need for Cognition and Thinking, along with other differences such as prompt type and production time were used to predict the novelty and mirth ratings. The results demonstrate a significant effect of Need for Cognition on metaphors but not for sarcastic replies, whereas no significant effects were observed for Thinking. Moreover, longer production times were associated with higher ratings for both metaphors and sarcastic replies. Finally, the results highlighted the manner in which prompt characteristics influenced participants’ responses, especially so for sarcastic replies.