The Role of Feature Emergence in Metaphor Appreciation

This study examined how emergent features, which are made salient in the interpretation of metaphor, are related to metaphor appreciation. According to an incongruity resolution model of poetic appreciation, the role of emergent features in metaphor appreciation is predicted to facilitate poetic appreciation by constituting a richer interpretation when topic–vehicle similarity is lower. Two experiments demonstrated that this prediction was supported for comprehensible metaphors. In Experiment 1, more emergent features were generated when comprehensible metaphors with lower topic–vehicle similarity were interpreted, and richer interpretations included more emergent features. In Experiment 2, poeticality rating of comprehensible metaphors was positively correlated with richness of interpretation. Furthermore, Experiment 2 found that conceptual aptness of metaphor also affected poeticality of comprehensible metaphors but, in contrast, that only emotive value of metaphor affected poeticality of less comprehensible metaphors. This finding suggests that the process of poetic appreciation may differ between comprehensible and less comprehensible metaphors.