Pamplona, ​​February 19, 2016. Researchers Cristobal Pagan Canovas, from the Institute for Culture and Society of the University of Navarra, Javier Valenzuela Manzanares, from the Department of English at the University of Murcia, and Julio Santiago de Torres, from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Granada, have published the first study that provides experimental evidence on the integration of the meaning of the terms used in a metaphor.

As they explain, "Traditionally, research has shown that metaphors and similes— such as, ‘lawyers are sharks'– produce a projection of content from a vehicle or source term –sharks— toward a topic or meta term –lawyers— revealing a new meaning for the latter."

In their article entitled, "‘Like the machete the snake: Integration of topic and vehicle in poetry comprehension reveals meaning construction processes," published in the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts journal, they argue that this model "does not explain the emerging meanings that are not present in the vehicle or the topic." This happens, for example, in the meaning of inappropriate behavior that emerges from "lawyers are sharks." "Such behavior," they explain, "is not characteristic of the concept 'shark,' which only does what is expected of it. Therefore, the metaphor cannot be explained as the result of a direct transfer from the shark concept of lawyer."

To account for these new meanings that emerge in metaphors they rely on Blending Theory, which suggests that there is no direct transfer between concepts, but rather a mixture that affects both. They expand on this idea saying, "According to this theory, an activation, partnership and opportune integration of mental spaces occurs, i.e., small conceptual packets that we build as we think and speak." 

"As the machete splits the snake"

In the study, the authors analyze poetry since creative language is fully present therein. Specifically, they chose classic questions about direct transfer models and mapping space-time using five lines of the poem "Beyond Love" by Octavio Paz: "Everything threatens us: time, that in living fragments severs what I have been from what I will become, as the machete splits the snake."

The authors chose this simile for its particular connection of snake imagery with time and being: "The fifth line causes the reader to imagine a scene in which a snake is split by a machete." Three basic ideas are considered for constructing the meaning of these verses: the machete represents time, which splits things up; the snake is the self divided into fragments corresponding to a past and future self and then the machete violently cuts the snake.

89 participants were asked to read the poem, draw the snake, and then interpret their own drawing. Two groups emerged from this exercise: those who assigned the snake a temporal meaning and those who did not. As the authors recount, "The results demonstrate the creation of a conceptual mixture: when temporary connections are established in a simile, mental images of the snake and time become integrated; participants drew snakes with straight lines that were oriented toward the right side of the page."

Visualizing a snake as time

According to their manifestation, both characteristics (straightness and orientation toward the right) are consistent with standard spatial characteristics of time such that a hybrid occurs: time with the contours of a snake or a snake with characteristics of time. "Participants adapted their visualization of the snake (the vehicle) to achieve a spatial configuration that represents temporal relationships (the topic)," as the authors noted.

The study concludes that, "When similes, and most likely metaphors, are processed, conceptual characteristics are not just projected from the vehicle to the topic. It does not just involve understanding one thing through another. Our data shows that both terms are starting points from which we integrate given elements into a new emerging conceptualization."

"Understanding the direction and complexity of the projections between concepts is essential for studying the construction of meaning, the formation of ideas, and, in general, imagination and creativity. Research on metaphor and conceptual integration is based on numerous models that touch on linguistics, psychology, artificial intelligence, and other sciences that study the human mind," according to Christopher Pagan, a research fellow within ICS's Public Discourse project.