A cognitive developmental study of metaphor comprehension.

In metaphor, sentence elements are classified according to principles of similarity, as in “hair is spaghetti” (both mixed up), or of proportionality, as in “my head is an apple without any core” (head is to apple as brain is to core). Metaphors of similarity and of proportionality, along with a pictorial form of the similarity metaphors, proverbs, and several Piaget-type cognitive tasks, were presented to 50 5-13 yr old males. Results indicate that metaphor comprehension is a type of classificatory behavior and, as such, is strongly related to maturing cognitive operations as well as to age. Rudimentary forms of metaphor comprehension exist earlier in the child's life than hitherto supposed. Significant (p < .01) increases in similarity metaphor comprehension between ages 7-13 are explained in terms of increasing access to concrete operational mechanisms. Proportional metaphor comprehension was highly related (p < .01) to advancement in formal operational development. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)