Contextual constraints can prime meaning facets of words for up to 30 minutes (Curtis et al., 2022). We tested whether metaphorical expressions prime meaning facets in a similar fashion. To this end, we compiled pairs of a target word with metaphorical and non-metaphorical source words (money – universal remedy vs. money – means of payment) and embedded them in parallelized versions of a scripted story. In each version, half of the targets were combined with a metaphorical source word and the other with a non-metaphorical one. Targets appearing with a metaphorical source word in one version were combined with a non-metaphorical one in the other and vice versa. Participants first listened to one of the story versions, completing comprehension questions throughout. In a free association task administered immediately after or with 10 minutes delay, participants’ self-rated associations to target words presented in a metaphorical context in the story were more similar to the metaphorical source word than those generated by a group of participants who had not heard the story before the association task. As expected, the latter did not differ from the associations to target words that had been presented in a non-metaphorical context. There were no effects of delay. We discuss these findings with respect to theories on metaphor comprehension and to lexical retuning and episodic accounts of long-lasting meaning processing in context.
Curtis, A. J., Mak, M. H. C., Chen, S., Rodd, J. M. & Gaskell, G. M. (2022). Word-meaning priming extends beyond homonyms. Cognition, 226, 105175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105175