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. 2012 Mar;38(2):295-311.
doi: 10.1037/a0025862. Epub 2011 Nov 21.

Mixing metaphors in the cerebral hemispheres: what happens when careers collide?

Selmaan Chettih  1 , Frank H Durgin, Daniel J Grodner
Affiliations

Mixing metaphors in the cerebral hemispheres: what happens when careers collide?

Selmaan Chettih et al. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

Are processes of figurative comparison and figurative categorization different? An experiment combining alternative-sense and matched-sense metaphor priming with a divided visual field assessment technique sought to isolate processes of comparison and categorization in the 2 cerebral hemispheres. For target metaphors presented in the right visual field/left cerebral hemisphere (RVF/LH), only matched-sense primes were facilitative. Literal primes and alternative-sense primes had no effect on comprehension time compared to the unprimed baseline. The effects of matched-sense primes were additive with the rated conventionality of the targets. For target metaphors presented to the left visual field/right cerebral hemisphere (LVF/RH), matched-sense primes were again additively facilitative. However, alternative-sense primes, though facilitative overall, seemed to eliminate the preexisting advantages of conventional target metaphor senses in the LVF/RH in favor of metaphoric senses similar to those of the primes. These findings are consistent with tightly controlled categorical coding in the LH and coarse, flexible, context-dependent coding in the RH.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic illustration of interleaving of prime sentences with fillers (left) and of an RSVP trial (right) with lateralized presentation of the metaphor vehicle. One third of filler sentences were lateralized. A light blue fixation crosshair was visible throughout each trial.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean RTs by item as a function of Prime Type and Conventionality for each hemisphere (RVF/LH on left; LVF/RH on right). Lines are best fits to the full data. Black: unprimed condition; blue: Matched-sense metaphor condition; red: Alternative-sense metaphor condition; green: Literal prime condition.
Figure 3
Figure 3
When Alternative-Sense primes had been presented, response latencies for metaphor vehicles presented to the LVF/RH were best predicted by the rated similarity between the metaphoric senses of the primes and the target sentence.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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