An exploratory fMRI study on metonymy and metaphor processing
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2019-07-01
Language
en
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Abstract
Metaphor and metonymy are believed to play a key role in human communication, language, and
cognition. However, it remains unclear what neural mechanisms allow for their comprehension, and
whether the brain regions involved during their processing reflect enhanced linguistic processing or
inferential processes. Through the use of fMRI and two localizer tasks, for language and Theory-of-
Mind, we investigated the mechanisms underlying the comprehension of metaphoric and
metonymic language. Both types of figurative language elicited increased left-lateralized
frontotemporal activity, with overlaps across regions belonging to both the Theory-of-Mind
network and the language network. Metonymy processing additionally recruited the right inferior
frontal gyrus, whereas metaphor comprehension downregulated the frontoparietal control system.
Results are discussed in terms of the degree of semantic distance between the metaphoric and
metonymic allusions and their referent.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen