Cognitive mechanisms in simile and metaphor comprehension
Mathisen, Emma Krane ; Allott, Nicholas and Ronderos, Camilo R. LU
(2025)
In Language and Cognition
17.
- Abstract
This study investigates whether metaphors and similes are processed the same way or not. Comparison accounts of metaphor claim that metaphors and similes use the same cognitive mechanisms because metaphors are implicit similes, while Categorization accounts claim that the two figures of speech require different cognitive mechanisms. It is unclear which position has the most support. We address this by introducing the distinction between single and extended metaphors to this debate. Several experiments have shown that a metaphor preceded by another metaphor is read faster than a single metaphor. If similes in extended and non-extended contexts display a similar processing difference, this would support views saying that metaphors and... (More)
This study investigates whether metaphors and similes are processed the same way or not. Comparison accounts of metaphor claim that metaphors and similes use the same cognitive mechanisms because metaphors are implicit similes, while Categorization accounts claim that the two figures of speech require different cognitive mechanisms. It is unclear which position has the most support. We address this by introducing the distinction between single and extended metaphors to this debate. Several experiments have shown that a metaphor preceded by another metaphor is read faster than a single metaphor. If similes in extended and non-extended contexts display a similar processing difference, this would support views saying that metaphors and similes are processed the same way. If not, it would be more in line with the view that they are processed differently. Using an eye-tracking reading paradigm, we find that the difference between processing single and extended metaphors does not hold in the case of simile comprehension. This is more compatible with Categorization accounts than with Comparison accounts; if the cognitive mechanism behind metaphor and simile processing is the same, we would expect there to be a comparable processing difference between metaphors and similes in the single and extended conditions.
(Less)
- author
- Mathisen, Emma Krane
; Allott, Nicholas
and Ronderos, Camilo R.
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- experimental pragmatics, eye-tracking, figurative language, language processing, metaphors, pragmatics, similes
- in
- Language and Cognition
- volume
- 17
- article number
- e89
- publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105023563305
- ISSN
- 1866-9808
- DOI
- 10.1017/langcog.2025.10038
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- bd27d5d0-a6e5-453b-9814-ca23ba5bcb39
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-14 11:30:20
- date last changed
- 2026-01-14 11:31:30
@article{bd27d5d0-a6e5-453b-9814-ca23ba5bcb39,
abstract = {{<p>This study investigates whether metaphors and similes are processed the same way or not. Comparison accounts of metaphor claim that metaphors and similes use the same cognitive mechanisms because metaphors are implicit similes, while Categorization accounts claim that the two figures of speech require different cognitive mechanisms. It is unclear which position has the most support. We address this by introducing the distinction between single and extended metaphors to this debate. Several experiments have shown that a metaphor preceded by another metaphor is read faster than a single metaphor. If similes in extended and non-extended contexts display a similar processing difference, this would support views saying that metaphors and similes are processed the same way. If not, it would be more in line with the view that they are processed differently. Using an eye-tracking reading paradigm, we find that the difference between processing single and extended metaphors does not hold in the case of simile comprehension. This is more compatible with Categorization accounts than with Comparison accounts; if the cognitive mechanism behind metaphor and simile processing is the same, we would expect there to be a comparable processing difference between metaphors and similes in the single and extended conditions.</p>}},
author = {{Mathisen, Emma Krane and Allott, Nicholas and Ronderos, Camilo R.}},
issn = {{1866-9808}},
keywords = {{experimental pragmatics; eye-tracking; figurative language; language processing; metaphors; pragmatics; similes}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}},
series = {{Language and Cognition}},
title = {{Cognitive mechanisms in simile and metaphor comprehension}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2025.10038}},
doi = {{10.1017/langcog.2025.10038}},
volume = {{17}},
year = {{2025}},
}