How discourse constraints influence neurolinguistic mechanisms during the comprehension of proverbs

Abstract

We use event-related brain potential (ERP) methodology to examine the influence of the linguistic markers literally speaking and figuratively speaking on the comprehension of proverbs (e.g., The cat is out of the bag). Our results show that slow cortical potentials at anterior electrode sites varied in amplitude across the proverbs as a function of the presence or absence of the markers, the presence and absence of discourse contexts, and the familiarity of the proverbs. The results demonstrate that the integration of literal meaning into context is easier than figurative meaning, and argues against models of figurative language processing that hold that comprehenders are obligated either to first process the literal or figurative sense of the trope.