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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 20, 2026

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
14:38

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning

Published on: November 2, 2012

How object shape affects visual metaphor processing.

Lisanne van Weelden1, Alfons Maes, Joost Schilperoord

  • 1Tilburg Center for Cognition and Communication, Tilburg, The Netherlands. l.vanweelden@uvt.nl

Experimental Psychology
|August 2, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Object shape significantly aids in understanding visual metaphors for children. Similar shapes between objects make it easier and faster for 10- to 12-year-olds to interpret these complex visual relationships.

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Last Updated: May 20, 2026

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Visual Communication

Background:

  • Interpreting novel metaphoric relations requires constructing temporary categories.
  • Object shape is a fundamental aspect of categorization.
  • Visual metaphors involve interpreting relationships between depicted objects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of object shape on visual metaphor interpretation in children aged 10–12.
  • To determine if shape similarity facilitates the understanding of visual metaphors.

Main Methods:

  • An experiment was conducted with 10- to 12-year-old participants.
  • Participants were presented with visual metaphors involving similarly and dissimilarly shaped objects.
  • The number of correspondences generated and thinking time were recorded.

Main Results:

  • Participants identified more correspondences between similarly shaped objects compared to dissimilarly shaped objects.
  • Children required less time to interpret visual metaphors when object shapes were similar.
  • Shape similarity appears to be a key factor in visual metaphor comprehension.

Conclusions:

  • Similarity in object shape facilitates the interpretation of visual metaphors in children.
  • This suggests that basic perceptual features like shape play a crucial role in higher-level cognitive processes such as metaphor comprehension.