The neural mechanisms underlying the processing of conventional and novel conceptual metaphorical sentences were examined with event-related potentials (ERPs). Conventional metaphors were created based on the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor and were operationally defined as familiar and readily interpretable. Novel metaphors were unfamiliar and harder to interpret. Using a sensicality judgment task, we compared ERPs elicited by the same target word when it was used to end anomalous, novel metaphorical, conventional metaphorical and literal sentences. Amplitudes of the N400 ERP component (320-440 ms) were more negative for anomalous sentences, novel metaphors, and conventional metaphors compared with literal sentences. Within a later window (440-560 ms), ERPs associated with conventional metaphors converged to the same level as literal sentences while the novel metaphors stayed anomalous throughout. The reported results were compatible with models assuming an initial stage for metaphor mappings from one concept to another and that these mappings are cognitively taxing.

No abstract

Studying the pragmatic microstructure of aphasic and normal speech: An experimental approach. L. Menn. In Menn & Bernstein Ratner (eds.), Methods for Studying Language Production. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. pp.377-401.(2000) In the beginning was the wug: Forty years of language elicitation studies. Ratner, Nan Bernstein & Lise Menn. 2000. In Menn & Bernstein Ratner (eds.), Methods for Studying Language Production. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. pp. 1-23. It's time to face a simple question: What makes canonical form simple? Brain and Language 71, 157-159. Menn, L. 2000. Can speech development at thirty-six months in children with hearing loss be predicted from information available in the second year of life? Obenchain, Patrick, Lise Menn, and Christine Yoshinaga-Itano. 2000. In C. Yoshinaga-Itano and A. Sedey (eds.) Language, Speech, and Social-Emotional Development of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children: The Early Years. Volta Review Research Monograph. Is babble the gateway to speech for all children? A longitudinal study of deaf and hard-of-hearing infants.

No abstract

No abstract