Conceptual similarity and visual metaphor: effects on viewing times, appreciation, and recall

Frontiers in Communication

Communication

Luuk Lagerwerf¹  Margot Van Mulken²  Jefta B. Lagerwerf³ 

[1] Department of Language, Literature, and Communication, Network Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands;Faculty of Social Sciences, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands;

关键词: visual metaphor;    hyponymy;    pragmatics;    experiment;    cognitive processing;    Fluency Theory;    visual rhetoric;    juxtaposition;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fcomm.2023.1266813

 received in 2023-07-25, accepted in 2023-10-05,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Different levels of conceptual similarity in equivalent visual structures may determine the way meaning is attributed to images. The degree to which two depicted objects are of the same kind limits interpretive possibilities. In the current research, visual hyponyms (objects of the same kind) were contrasted with visual metaphors and unrelated object pairs. Hyponyms are conceptually more similar than metaphor's source and target, or two unrelated objects. Metaphorically related objects share a ground for comparison that lacks between unrelated objects. We expected viewers to interpret hyponyms more quickly than metaphors or unrelated objects. For liking, there were competing predictions: hyponyms are appreciated more because they are easier, or metaphors are liked more because successful cognitive effort is rewarded. In the first experiment viewers were asked to identify relationships in 27 object pairs. Hyponyms were identified faster than metaphors and metaphors faster than unrelated objects. In the second experiment, with the same materials, viewers were asked to rate appreciation for each object pair. This reduced viewing times substantially. Appreciation was higher for hyponyms than for visual metaphors. In a third experiment with the same materials, exposure duration was varied. Hyponyms were preferred to metaphors and unrelated objects irrespective of exposure duration.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Lagerwerf, Van Mulken and Lagerwerf.