Kintsch, W., & Bowles, A. R. (2002). Metaphor comprehension: What makes a metaphor difficult to understand? Metaphor and Symbol, 17(4), 249-262.

Kintsch, W.; Bowles, A.

2002

Kintsch, W., & Bowles, A. R. (2002). Metaphor comprehension: What makes a metaphor difficult to understand? Metaphor and Symbol, 17(4), 249-262.

geen

Comprehension difficulty was rated for metaphors of the form NOUN1 IS A NOUN2; in addition, participants completed frames of the form NOUN1 IS ------ with their literal interpretation of the metaphor. Metaphor comprehension was simulated with a computational model based on latent semantic analysis (LSA). The model matched participants' interpretations for both easy and difficult metaphors. When interpreting easy metaphors, both the participants and the model generated highly consistent responses. When interpreting difficult metaphors, both the participants and the model generated disparate responses.

We have shown that metaphors that are judged to be easy to comprehend are interpreted in similar ways by most people, whereas a greater range of interpretations exists for difficult-to-comprehend metaphors.

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