As naturally occurring examples of folk culture and creativity, internet memes provide a rich testbed to examine the interrelationships among cognitive and motivational factors that influence their impact. In two studies with participants recruited over the internet, we measured a variety of appraisals of both apolitical and political memes with a focus on the role of metaphorical aptness and personal relatability as predictors of comprehensibility and humor. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze interconnections among appraisals. A major network path connects relatability to aptness, which in turn is linked to appraisals of comprehensibility, humor, and propensity to share. For political memes, the congruity of the meme with the person’s political position (liberal or conservative) has a powerful but indirect impact on the propensity to share it. These findings indicate that appraisals of memes are based on cognitive and motivational processes that also underlie metaphor comprehension and appreciation of humor.

作为民间文化和创造力的自然例子，网络模因提供了一个丰富的测试平台来检查影响其影响的认知和动机因素之间的相互关系。在通过互联网招募参与者的两项研究中，我们测量了对非政治性和政治性模因的各种评估，重点是隐喻性和个人相关性作为可理解性和幽默的预测指标的作用。结构方程模型用于分析评估之间的相互关联。一条主要的网络路径将相关性与适应性联系起来，而适应性又与对可理解性、幽默感和分享倾向的评估相关联。对于政治模因，模因与个人政治立场（自由派或保守派）的一致性对分享它的倾向有强大但间接的影响。这些发现表明，对模因的评估基于认知和动机过程，这也是隐喻理解和幽默欣赏的基础。