Figures of speech -- understanding idioms requires both ...
Figures of speech -- understanding idioms
requires both sides of the brain
September 14 2009
Is it better to treat someone with kid gloves or to treat them carefully?
Researchers in Italy have investigated how the brain recognises that the
first phrase means the same as the second. Publishing in the open access
journal BMC Neuroscience, the researchers suggest that we use both
hemispheres to understand idioms.
Dr Alice Proverbio from the University of Milano-Bicocca and
colleagues used electrophysiological and LORETA source reconstruction
analysis to investigate the role of the two cerebral hemispheres in idiom
comprehension. By analysing the brain activity of 11 students, they
found that idiomatic sentences activated the right middle temporal gyrus
(after 350ms) and the right medial frontal gyrus (at 270-300 and
500-780ms).
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All phrases were matched for length and familiarity, yet the students
took longer to associate an idiomatic phrase with a linked word than to
associate a literal phrase with its linked word. This suggests that idioms
are more difficult to understand and denote superior levels of language
use and processing.
The findings also shed light on whether the brain tries to understand a
familiar idiom literally before it understands it as a metaphor. The left
inferior frontal gyrus, the part of the brain thought to be used to suppress
literal meaning, was not specifically activated by idiom comprehension;
however, the limbic regions, which are involved in emotional responses,
were (at 400-450ms).
Dr Proverbio concludes, "though the interpretation of language involves
widespread activation bilaterally, the right hemisphere has a special role
in the comprehension of idiomatic meaning."
More information: The role of left and right hemispheres in the
comprehension of idiomatic language: an electrical neuroimaging study;
Alice M Proverbio, Nicola Crotti, Alberto Zani and Roberta Adorni;
BMC Neuroscience (in press); bmcneurosci/
Source: BioMed Central (news : web)
Citation: Figures of speech -- understanding idioms requires both sides of the brain (2009,
September 14) retrieved 19 August 2024 from
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