The Influence of Explicit Markers on Slow Cortical Potentials During Figurative Language Processing

Recent event related brain potential (ERP) results show that figurative interpretations of proverbial phrases (e.g., lightning never strikes the same place twice) elicit sustained slow cortical potentials that are more negative over the front of the head than for literal interpretations of the same phrases (Ferretti, Schwint, & Katz, under review). We extend this research by examining the influence of explicit markers placed before the proverbs, such as literally speaking and figuratively speaking, and by contrasting two literal conditions in which there either is overlap or no overlap between content words in the proverbs and the preceding contexts. The results show that slow cortical potentials were most negative for proverbs interpreted in figurative contexts, and most positive for literal contexts that contained overlapping words. Moreover, markers directed readers toward the contextually appropriate interpretation of the proverbs earlier than found in previous research. These findings have direct relevance for theoretical explanations of figurative language processing.