An EEG-Based Analysis on the Hemisphere Orientation During Metaphor Comprehension

EasyChair Preprint 8430

Abstract

The right hemisphere (RH) was reported to play a significant role in metaphor comprehension. However, not all studies found a right hemisphere advantage in processing figurative language using brain imaging methods. Therefore, the current study was designed to explore the right hemisphere recruitment with Event-related potentials (ERPs) and source-localization algorithms (sLORETA) by comparing metaphors selected from different language contexts (in and outside literature) and literal expressions. Based on the ERPs results, significant differences were presented during the N400 time window. The waveform of literary metaphors was significantly negative than the other two language conditions, indicating more efforts in retrieving conceptual knowledge. Comparing source localization solutions revealed that both the left and right hemispheres were activated in processing metaphors in and outside literature. Although literary metaphor, which was seen as more novel and unfamiliar, elicited stronger activation in the right hemisphere during the N400 time window, no significant differences were indicated.

Keyphrases: N400, event-related potentials (ERPs), hemisphere involvement, metaphor

@booklet{EasyChair:8430,
  author    = {Lina Sun and Hongjun Chen and Chi Zhang and Qixuan Zhang and Timo Hämäläinen and Tuomo Kujala and Fengyu Cong},
  title     = {An EEG-Based Analysis on the Hemisphere Orientation During Metaphor Comprehension},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 8430},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2022}}