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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Metaphorical sentences are more emotionally engaging than their literal counterparts
AU - Citron, Francesca M. M.
AU - Goldberg, Adele E.
N1 - This is a preprint, or manuscript version and that the article has been accepted for publication in Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
PY - 2014/11
Y1 - 2014/11
N2 - Why do people so often use metaphorical expressions when literal paraphrases are readily available? This study focuses on a comparison of metaphorical statements involving the source domain of taste (e.g., She looked at him sweetly) and their literal paraphrases (e.g., She looked at him kindly). Metaphorical and literal sentences differed only in one word and were normed for length, familiarity, imageability, emotional valence, and arousal. Our findings indicate that conventional metaphorical expressions are more emotionally evocative than literal expressions, as the amygdala and the anterior portion of the hippocampus were more active in the metaphorical sentences. They also support the idea that even conventional metaphors can be grounded in sensorimotor and perceptual representations in that primary and secondary gustatory areas (lateral OFC, frontal operculum, anterior insula) were more active as well. A comparison of the individual words that distinguished the metaphorical and literal sentences revealed greater activation in the lateral OFC and the frontal operculum for the taste-related words, supporting the claim that these areas are relevant to taste.
AB - Why do people so often use metaphorical expressions when literal paraphrases are readily available? This study focuses on a comparison of metaphorical statements involving the source domain of taste (e.g., She looked at him sweetly) and their literal paraphrases (e.g., She looked at him kindly). Metaphorical and literal sentences differed only in one word and were normed for length, familiarity, imageability, emotional valence, and arousal. Our findings indicate that conventional metaphorical expressions are more emotionally evocative than literal expressions, as the amygdala and the anterior portion of the hippocampus were more active in the metaphorical sentences. They also support the idea that even conventional metaphors can be grounded in sensorimotor and perceptual representations in that primary and secondary gustatory areas (lateral OFC, frontal operculum, anterior insula) were more active as well. A comparison of the individual words that distinguished the metaphorical and literal sentences revealed greater activation in the lateral OFC and the frontal operculum for the taste-related words, supporting the claim that these areas are relevant to taste.
KW - HUMAN ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX
KW - EVENT-RELATED FMRI
KW - RIGHT-HEMISPHERE
KW - FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
KW - TEXT COMPREHENSION
KW - FUNCTIONAL MRI
KW - TEMPORAL-LOBE
KW - AMYGDALA
KW - METAANALYSIS
KW - BRAIN
U2 - 10.1162/jocn_a_00654
DO - 10.1162/jocn_a_00654
M3 - Journal article
VL - 26
SP - 2585
EP - 2595
JO - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
SN - 0898-929X
IS - 11
ER -