Dent C, Rosenberg L
Psychology Department, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056.
Child Dev. 1990 Aug;61(4):983-94.
This study investigated developmental changes in children's abilities to comprehend visual metaphors as measured by their use of verbal metaphor. The visual metaphors were compound objects, e.g., a top with features of a ballerina (head and skirt). 30 participants at each of 4 ages--5, 7, 10, and adult--described objects ordered in pairs; half described standard objects and the other half corresponding compound objects (half stationary, and half moving, e.g., spinning). Total metaphoric descriptions reached the adult frequency by age 7 for compound objects, but increased from 5 to 10 to adult for standard objects. For all but the youngest children, moving objects were more likely to be described using action vehicles. These results indicate that from 5 to 7 children improve in the ability to understand visual metaphors, which display topic-vehicle interaction; from 5 through 10 to adulthood they improve in the ability to comprehend metaphoric similarity.
本研究通过儿童对言语隐喻的运用，调查了他们理解视觉隐喻能力的发展变化。视觉隐喻为复合物体，例如带有芭蕾舞女特征（头部和裙子）的陀螺。4个年龄段（5岁、7岁、10岁和成年人）各有30名参与者对成对排列的物体进行描述；一半描述标准物体，另一半描述相应的复合物体（一半静止，一半运动，例如旋转）。对于复合物体，7岁时隐喻描述的总数达到了成年人的频率，但对于标准物体，从5岁到10岁再到成年人呈上升趋势。除了最小的儿童外，对于运动物体，更有可能使用动作载体进行描述。这些结果表明，5到7岁的儿童理解视觉隐喻（显示主题-载体相互作用）的能力有所提高；从5岁到10岁再到成年，他们理解隐喻相似性的能力有所提高。
