摘要：Metaphors are argued as being a sub-species of analogy. Processing of metaphor interpretation, on the other hand, is postulated as being based on structure mapping . A principle underlying this proposition that raises question is systematicity which regulates that “alignments that form deeply interconnected structures, in which higher order relations constrain lower order relations, are preferred”. The current research investigates the empirical basis of this proposition which implicates that interpretations of familiar metaphors that have a higher level of complexity and consistent with the base domains receive priority treatment and are thus predicted by the Graded Salience Hypothesis to result in faster speed of processing. Interpretations of metaphors were gathered through a survey and two interpretations for each metaphor were selected and prepared as experiment lexical targets; one representing targets with more complex relational structure and the other representing targets having less complex structure. A lexical decision task experiment was conducted to test reaction time by three groups of subjects to these targets after each corresponding metaphor was presented on a computer screen. Results showed that mean reaction time for targets with more complex underlying relational structure was fastest with 450.83ms (SD = 60.588) compared to less complex targets and unrelated targets. A one-way between subjects ANOVA showed significance in differences of mean times among the three categories. A post hoc Holm analysis showed that mean RT for the more complex targets was significantly different from the less complex targets at p<.05. We conclude that maximally consistent structures are the basis of metaphor processing. It is also a factor motivating saliency of certain interpretations among alternative interpretations of familiar metaphors.
其他摘要：Metaphors are argued as being a sub-species of analogy. Processing of metaphor interpretation, on the other hand, is postulated as being based on structure mapping . A principle underlying this proposition that raises question is systematicity which regulates that “alignments that form deeply interconnected structures, in which higher order relations constrain lower order relations, are preferred”. The current research investigates the empirical basis of this proposition which implicates that interpretations of familiar metaphors that have a higher level of complexity and consistent with the base domains receive priority treatment and are thus predicted by the Graded Salience Hypothesis to result in faster speed of processing. Interpretations of metaphors were gathered through a survey and two interpretations for each metaphor were selected and prepared as experiment lexical targets; one representing targets with more complex relational structure and the other representing targets having less complex structure. A lexical decision task experiment was conducted to test reaction time by three groups of subjects to these targets after each corresponding metaphor was presented on a computer screen. Results showed that mean reaction time for targets with more complex underlying relational structure was fastest with 450.83ms (SD = 60.588) compared to less complex targets and unrelated targets. A one-way between subjects ANOVA showed significance in differences of mean times among the three categories. A post hoc Holm analysis showed that mean RT for the more complex targets was significantly different from the less complex targets at p<.05. We conclude that maximally consistent structures are the basis of metaphor processing. It is also a factor motivating saliency of certain interpretations among alternative interpretations of familiar metaphors.
