ABSTRACT

Metaphors are a common way to express creative language, yet the cognitive basis of figurative language production remains poorly understood. Previous studies found that higher creative individuals can better comprehend novel metaphors, potentially due to a more flexible semantic memory network structure conducive to remote conceptual combination. The present study extends this domain to creative metaphor production and examined whether the ability to produce creative metaphors is related to variation in the structure of semantic memory. Participants completed a creative metaphor production task and two verbal fluency tasks. They were divided into two equal groups based on their creative metaphor production score. The semantic networks of these two groups were estimated and analyzed based on their verbal fluency responses using a computational network science approach. Results revealed that the semantic networks of high-metaphor producing individuals were more flexible, clustered, and less rigid than that of the low-metaphor producing individuals. Importantly, these results replicated across both semantic categories. The findings provide the first evidence that a flexible, clustered, and less rigid semantic memory structure relates to people’s ability to produce figurative language, extending the growing literature on the role of semantic networks in creativity to the domain of metaphor production.

摘要

隐喻是表达创造性语言的常见方式，但对比喻语言产生的认知基础仍然知之甚少。先前的研究发现，具有更高创造力的个体可以更好地理解新颖的隐喻，这可能是由于更灵活的语义记忆网络结构有利于远程概念组合。本研究将这一领域扩展到创造性隐喻的产生，并检验了产生创造性隐喻的能力是否与语义记忆结构的变化有关。参与者完成了一个创造性的隐喻制作任务和两个语言流畅性任务。根据他们的创造性隐喻制作得分，他们被分成两个相等的组。使用计算网络科学方法根据他们的语言流畅性反应来估计和分析这两组的语义网络。结果表明，高隐喻产生个体的语义网络比低隐喻产生个体的语义网络更灵活、更聚集、更不僵化。重要的是，这些结果在两个语义类别中都得到了复制。这些发现提供了第一个证据，即灵活的、聚集的、不那么僵化的语义记忆结构与人们产生比喻语言的能力有关，将不断增长的关于语义网络在创造力中的作用的文献扩展到隐喻产生领域。并且比低隐喻产生的个体更不僵化。重要的是，这些结果在两个语义类别中都得到了复制。这些发现提供了第一个证据，即灵活的、聚集的、不那么僵化的语义记忆结构与人们产生比喻语言的能力有关，将不断增长的关于语义网络在创造力中的作用的文献扩展到隐喻产生领域。并且比低隐喻产生的个体更不僵化。重要的是，这些结果在两个语义类别中都得到了复制。这些发现提供了第一个证据，即灵活的、聚集的、不那么僵化的语义记忆结构与人们产生比喻语言的能力有关，将不断增长的关于语义网络在创造力中的作用的文献扩展到隐喻产生领域。