Metaphorically feeling: Comprehending textural metaphors activates somatosensory cortex

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Simon A Lacey, Emory University; Randall Stilla, Emory University; Krish Sathian, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-03
• Publisher: Elsevier: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2011.12.016
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Brain and Language
• ISSN: 0093-934X
• Volume: 120
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 416
• End Page: 421
• Grant/Funding Information: Support to KS from the National Eye Institute, National Science Foundation and the Veterans Administration is gratefully acknowledged.
• Keywords: tactile; parietal operculum; grounded cognition; fMRI
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

Conceptual metaphor theory suggests that knowledge is structured around metaphorical mappings derived from physical experience. Segregated processing of object properties in sensory cortex allows testing of the hypothesis that metaphor processing recruits activity in domain-specific sensory cortex. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we show that texture-selective somatosensory cortex in the parietal operculum is activated when processing sentences containing textural metaphors, compared to literal sentences matched for meaning. This finding supports the idea that comprehension of metaphors is perceptually grounded.