Noufi Tala, Zeev-Wolf Maor
Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.
Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.
Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 14;12:729814. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.729814. eCollection 2021.
The neurotypical brain is characterized by left hemisphere lateralization for most language processing. However, the right hemisphere plays a crucial part when it is required to bring together seemingly unrelated concepts into meaningful expressions, such as in the case of novel metaphors (unfamiliar figurative expressions). The aim of the current study was to test whether it is possible to enhance novel metaphor comprehension through an easy, efficient, and non-invasive method - intentional contraction of the left hand's muscles, to activate the motor and sensory areas in the contralateral hemisphere. One hundred eighteen neurotypical participants were asked to perform a semantic judgment task involving two-word expressions of four types: literal, conventional metaphors, novel metaphors, or unrelated, while squeezing a rubber ball with their right hand, left hand, or not at all. Results demonstrated that left-hand contraction improved novel metaphor comprehension, as participants were more accurate and quicker in judging them to be meaningful. The findings of the present work provide a simple and efficient method for boosting right hemisphere activation, which can be used to improve metaphoric language comprehension. This method can aid several populations in which right hemisphere function is not fully established, and who struggle with processing figurative language, such as adolescents and individuals on the autistic spectrum.
典型神经大脑的特征是在大多数语言处理过程中左半球占主导地位。然而，当需要将看似不相关的概念整合为有意义的表达时，例如在新颖隐喻（不熟悉的比喻表达）的情况下，右半球就会发挥关键作用。本研究的目的是测试是否有可能通过一种简单、有效且非侵入性的方法——有意识地收缩左手肌肉，来激活对侧半球的运动和感觉区域，从而提高对新颖隐喻的理解。118名典型神经参与者被要求执行一项语义判断任务，该任务涉及四种类型的双词表达：字面意义、传统隐喻、新颖隐喻或不相关表达，同时分别用右手、左手挤压一个橡皮球，或者根本不挤压。结果表明，左手收缩提高了对新颖隐喻的理解，因为参与者在判断它们是否有意义时更加准确和迅速。本研究的结果提供了一种简单有效的方法来增强右半球的激活，可用于提高隐喻性语言的理解。这种方法可以帮助一些右半球功能尚未完全建立且在处理比喻性语言方面存在困难的人群，例如青少年和自闭症谱系中的个体。
