Comprehending idioms (e.g., bite the bullet) requires that people appreciate their figurative meanings while suppressing literal interpretations of the phrase. While much is known about idioms, an open question is how healthy aging and noncanonical form presentation affect idiom comprehension when the task is to read sentences silently for comprehension. Here, younger and older adults read sentences containing idioms or literal phrases, while we monitored their eye movements. Idioms were presented in a canonical or a noncanonical form (e.g., bite the iron bullet). To assess whether people integrate figurative or literal interpretations of idioms, a disambiguating region that was figuratively or literally biased followed the idiom in each sentence. During early stages of reading, older adults showed facilitation for canonical idioms, suggesting a greater sensitivity to stored idiomatic forms. During later stages of reading, older adults showed slower reading times when canonical idioms were biased toward their literal interpretation, suggesting they were more likely to interpret idioms figuratively on the first pass. In contrast, noncanonical form presentation slowed comprehension of figurative meanings comparably in younger and older participants. We conclude that idioms may be more strongly entrenched in older adults, and that noncanonical form presentation slows comprehension of figurative meanings.

中文翻译：

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老化和非规范形式呈现对习语处理的影响：来自眼动追踪的证据

理解成语（例如，硬着头皮) 要求人们欣赏他们的比喻意义，同时抑制对短语的字面解释。虽然对成语有很多了解，但一个悬而未决的问题是，当任务是默读句子以进行理解时，健康的衰老和非规范的形式呈现如何影响成语的理解。在这里，年轻人和老年人阅读包含成语或文字短语的句子，同时我们监测他们的眼球运动。习语以规范或非规范的形式呈现（例如，咬紧牙关）。为了评估人们是否整合了成语的比喻或字面解释，每个句子中的成语后面都有一个在比喻或字面上有偏见的消歧区域。在阅读的早期阶段，老年人表现出对规范习语的促进，这表明对存储的习语形式更敏感。在阅读的后期阶段，当经典习语偏向于他们的字面解释时，老年人的阅读时间会变慢，这表明他们更有可能在第一遍时用比喻来解释习语。相反，在年轻和年长的参与者中，非规范的形式呈现减缓了对比喻意义的理解。我们得出的结论是，成语在老年人中可能更加根深蒂固，并且非规范的形式呈现会减慢对比喻意义的理解。