Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language
Published on: October 13, 2018
Similes on the Internet have explanations
Carlos Roncero1, John M Kennedy, Ron Smyth
1University of Toronto at Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract:
We searched the Internet for expressions linking topics, such as crime, and vehicles, such as disease, as similes (crime is like a disease) and as metaphors (crime is a disease). We counted the number of times the expressions were accompanied by explanations (crime is like a disease because it spreads by direct personal influence). Similes were more likely than metaphors to be accompanied by explanations. Similes may be preferred if a writer wants to express an out-of-the-ordinary relation between the topic and the vehicle.
Related Concept Videos
Modeling and Similitude
Causes of Similarity-Dissimilarity Effect
Nonconscious Mimicry
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Social Foundations of Self IV: Self in Digital Communication
Principle of Equivalence