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An Electrophysiological Abstractness Effect for Metaphorical Meaning Making.

Bálint Forgács1,2

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Summary

Metaphors may not rely on sensorimotor processing for meaning. This study found abstractness, not sensorimotor features, drives brain responses to novel metaphors, challenging embodied cognition theories.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Psycholinguistics

Background:

  • Neuroimaging suggests metaphors activate sensorimotor areas, linking concrete experiences to abstract ideas.
  • This has led to embodied cognition theories, proposing sensorimotor mapping is crucial for figurative meaning.
  • However, the necessity of sensorimotor information for metaphor comprehension remains debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of sensorimotor feature processing in understanding novel metaphors.
  • To explore the electrophysiological concreteness effect in metaphor comprehension.
  • To determine if abstract representations or sensorimotor information underpin figurative meaning.

Main Methods:

  • Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in healthy adults using a divided visual field paradigm.
  • Participants processed novel French adjective-noun expressions, categorized as either metaphorical or literal.
  • The study analyzed electrophysiological responses, specifically the concreteness effect and N400, in relation to abstractness and figurativeness.

Main Results:

  • Literal expressions showed a typical concreteness effect (RH frontal negativity).
  • Metaphors did not activate sensorimotor areas; instead, they displayed an abstractness effect (LH frontal negativity), increasing with metaphor abstraction.
  • Metaphor comprehension was independent of figurativeness, novelty, or emotional valence, correlating solely with abstractness.

Conclusions:

  • Metaphor comprehension may rely on abstract representations rather than sensorimotor information, challenging embodied cognition.
  • An electrophysiological abstractness effect, opposite to the concreteness effect, was identified for the first time.
  • Figurative language processing appears driven by abstract conceptual systems, even in highly metaphorical contexts.