The comprehension of idioms*1

Proceedings of the XXVII …, 2005

We report two experiments which investigated the time course of spoken idiom comprehension. We also assessed whether differences in individual speed of processing specifically affected idiom meaning activation. Using a cross-modal lexical decision paradigm, we found activation of ambiguous idioms meaning at offset for idioms identified early in the string (early identification idioms) and at offset (late identification idioms) in fast and slow participants. The two groups instead differed in the amount of time required for activating the idiomatic meaning.

Journal of Memory and Language, 2006

In three experiments we test the assumption that idioms have their own lexical entry, which is linked to its constituent lemmas . Speakers produced idioms or literal phrases (Experiment 1), completed idioms (Experiment 2), or switched between idiom completion and naming (Experiment 3). The results of Experiment 1 show that identity priming speeds up idiom production more effectively than literal phrase production, indicating a hybrid representation of idioms. In Experiment 2, we find effects of both phonological and semantic priming. Thus, elements of an idiom can not only be primed via their wordform, but also via the conceptual level. The results of Experiment 3 show that preparing the last word of an idiom primes naming of both phonologically and semantically related targets, indicating that literal word meanings become active during idiom production. The results are discussed within the framework of the hybrid model of idiom representation.

Journal of Experimental Psychology-learning Memory and Cognition, 2001

Syntactic and semantic processing of literal and idiomatic phrases were investigated with a priming procedure. In 3 experiments, participants named targets that were syntactically appropriate or inappropriate completions for semantically unrelated sentence contexts. Sentences ended with incomplete idioms (kick the ...) and were biased for either a literal (ball) or an idiomatic (bucket) completion. Syntactically appropriate targets were named more quickly than inappropriate ones for both contextual biases, suggesting that syntactic analysis occurs for idioms. In a final experiment, targets were either concrete (expected) or abstract (unexpected) nouns. For literal sentences, the abstract targets were named more slowly than the concrete targets. In contrast, there was no concreteness effect for idiomatic sentences, suggesting that the literal meaning of the idiom is not processed. Overall, the results provide evidence for dissociation between syntactic and semantic processing.

European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 2010

Neuropsychologia, 2007

Recent neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies have suggested that the neural correlates of idiom processing are predominantly located in the left Brodmann's area (BA) 22 and, to some extent, in the prefrontal cortex. The present study explores the temporal dynamics of left prefrontal and temporal cortex in idiom processing by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in normal subjects.

Memory & Cognition, 2009

It is an established fact that idiomatic expressions are fast to process. However, the explanation of the phenomenon is controversial. Using a semantic judgment paradigm, where people decide whether a string is meaningful or not, the present experiment tested the predictions deriving from the three main theories of idiom recognition-the lexical representation hypothesis, the idiom decomposition hypothesis, and the configuration hypothesis. Participants were faster at judging decomposable idioms, nondecomposable idioms, and clichés than at judging their matched controls. The effect was comparable for all conventional expressions. The results were interpreted as suggesting that, as posited by the configuration hypothesis, the fact that they are known expressions, rather than idiomaticity, explains their fast recognition.

Metaphor and Symbol, 2007

Is the format of semantic representation for idiomatic expressions different from that for words or literal phrases? Do the semantic characteristics of idiomatic expressions influence their processing? This study examined the influence of the compositionality dimension on the processing of idiomatic expressions. It was hypothesized that decomposable and nondecomposable idiomatic expressions are represented differently in memory and that this difference affects the processing time of idiomatic expressions. In 2 experiments, participants read sentences containing decomposable idioms, nondecomposable idioms, or control expressions and performed a lexical decision task on figurative targets presented 0 msec, 350 msec, or 500 msec after reading. Results demonstrated a clear effect of compositionality on the activation of figurative meaning: decomposable idiomatic expressions were processed sooner than nondecomposable idiomatic ones. These results are discussed in the framework of the hybrid model and the construction-integration (CI) model .

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 1986

The relationship between idiom familiarity and idiom comprehension was investigated. Familiar and less familiar idioms were presented in three types of sentences. The sentences were biased toward the idiom's literal meaning, biased toward the idiom's idiomatic meaning, or unbiased toward either meaning. Reading times for sentences containing less familiar idioms were longer than for sentences containing familiar idioms, but there was no significant main effect for sentence type. The familiarity by sentence type interaction was significant. In literal sentences, less familiar idioms required more reading time than familiar idioms. In idiomatic sentences, less familiar idioms required more reading time than familiar idioms. The results are interpreted as being consistent with the idiomatic processing model, which proposes that processing of an idiom's idiomatic meaning precedes processing of its literal meaning.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 1997

described a theory of priming that predicts long-term effects for all forms of relatedness. This prediction is reconciled with previous failures to observe long-term semantic priming on the basis of 2 claims: (a) that previously used pairs share few semantic features and (b) that tasks typically used to study priming are not especially sensitive to semantic influences. The present experiments provide further support for these claims by demonstrating long-term semantic priming in the lexical-decision task when the stimuli and task are modified in a way that increases semantic involvement. However, the findings suggest that in addition to the mechanism advocated by Becker et al., a second mechanism is necessary to provide a complete account of semantic priming effects. Meyer and Schvaneveldt (1971) introduced the lexicaldecision task as a tool for learning more about the processes and mechanisms underlying semantic memory. In its original form, the task consisted of two letter strings simultaneously presented, with participants instructed to press one key if both stimuli were words, and another key if one or both of the stimuli were nonwords. Findings from that task indicated that correct "word** responses could be emitted faster if the stimuli consisted of a pair of semantically related words (e.g., sky-cloud) than if the stimuli consisted of apair of semantically unrelated words (e.g., car-cloud). This phenomenon is called semantic priming. In follow-up work, Meyer, Schvaneveldt, and Ruddy (1972) discovered two other facts about semantic priming. The first was that the priming observed in the original study was also observed with a procedure in which participants had to judge the lexical status of a single item that either was or was not preceded by a semantically related associate. The second discovery was that the magnitude of the semantic priming effect was strongly affected if items were presented between the prime and target. In their experiment, they found that the strong semantic priming effect observed when the prime and target were presented consecutively became

Using cross-modal priming, we investigated the processing of idioms in non-native listeners in varying experimental contexts. As idiomatic processing models have presented evidence for an idiomatic mode of processing that can be activated for non-native speakers in highly figurative contexts (Bobrow & Bell, 1973), this experiment revisits those claims while also examining access to figurative meaning in addition to the literal meaning of individual words within an idiom. This experiment showed increased priming for visual targets related to the figurative meaning of an idiom when the experimental list contained a large proportion of idiomatic sentences compared to when the list contained only a small proportion of idiomatic sentences. Non-native speakers not only showed online access to figurative meaning but were also sensitive to highly idiomatic contexts; though, responses to the targets related to literal meaning of the final word of the idiom were faster in all instances than figuratively-related targets.