Comprehension of idiomatic expressions: effects of predictability and literality

This study examined the influence of predictability on idiom comprehension in 3 cross-modal priming experiments. In Experiment 1, Ss heard neutral sentences that contained high- and low-predictable idioms and made lexical decisions to idiom-related or control visual targets presented at the idiom offset. Both high- and low-predictable idioms showed priming of the idiom-related meaning. Experiment 2 showed more priming for high-predictable idioms than for low-predictable idioms when the visual target was presented prior to idiom offset (penultimate position). In Experiment 3 the activation of the literal meaning of the idiom-final word at idiom offset was examined as a function of predictability and literality (i.e., the degree to which an idiom has a potential literal interpretation). Activation of the literal meaning was found for all idiom types except high-predictable-nonliteral idioms. The results are discussed with respect to different models of idiom comprehension, with a special emphasis on the configuration model.