Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Communication, Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Mem Cognit. 2021 Apr;49(3):557-570. doi: 10.3758/s13421-020-01109-2. Epub 2020 Nov 2.
In a metaphor such as lawyers are sharks, the concept lawyers, which is the metaphor topic, and the concept sharks, which is the metaphor vehicle, interact to produce a figurative meaning such that lawyers are predatory. Some theorists argue that sensorimotor properties of the vehicle are the basis of metaphor comprehension. Accordingly, the metaphor lawyers are sharks is processed as a simulation in which bodily actions related to sharks are accessed (e.g., sharks chasing prey). In contrast, the long-standing assumption is that metaphors are processed as abstractions with no role played by sensorimotor properties. From this theoretical perspective, abstract characteristics of sharks (e.g., vicious, predatory) are argued to be the core properties involved in metaphor processing. Here, we juxtapose these two opposing views of metaphor processing using cross-modal lexical priming. We find evidence that low-familiar metaphors (e.g., highways are snakes) prime bodily-action associates (i.e., slither) but not abstraction associates (i.e., danger), and are hence processed via simulation, whereas high-familiar metaphors (e.g., lawyers are sharks) prime abstraction associates (i.e., killer) but not bodily-action associates (i.e., bite) and are therefore processed via abstraction. The results align with views of cognition and language that posit the presence of both embodied and abstract representations.
在诸如“律师是鲨鱼”这样的隐喻中，律师这个概念是隐喻的主题，而鲨鱼这个概念是隐喻的载体，它们相互作用产生了比喻意义，即律师是掠夺性的。一些理论家认为，载体的感觉运动特性是隐喻理解的基础。因此，“律师是鲨鱼”这个隐喻被处理为一种模拟，其中涉及鲨鱼的身体动作被访问（例如，鲨鱼追逐猎物）。相比之下，长期以来的假设是，隐喻是作为抽象来处理的，没有感觉运动特性的作用。从这个理论角度来看，鲨鱼的抽象特征（例如，凶残、掠夺性）被认为是隐喻处理中涉及的核心特征。在这里，我们使用跨模态词汇启动来对比这两种对立的隐喻处理观点。我们发现，低熟悉度的隐喻（例如，高速公路是蛇）会激活身体动作联想（即滑行），而不会激活抽象联想（即危险），因此是通过模拟来处理的，而高熟悉度的隐喻（例如，律师是鲨鱼）会激活抽象联想（即杀手），而不会激活身体动作联想（即咬人），因此是通过抽象来处理的。这些结果与认知和语言的观点一致，这些观点认为存在具体和抽象的表示。
