Development of Metaphor Reasoning Comprehension in Infants

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the development of early metaphor comprehension based on gender and age in preschool children and measured its correlation with vocabulary acquisition.Methods: A total of forty-nine Korean preschoolers aged 4 to 6 years old (17 boys, 32 girls) with normal receptive and expressive vocabulary development were included in this study. Children were divided into three groups depending on age, their mean ages being 4;8, 5;4, 6;3, respectively. Metaphor reasoning comprehension was measured using MRAC(Metaphor and Reasoning Comprehension Test), and children were asked to listen to a sentence and point to one of the three pictures.Results: There was no significant difference among the groups in the metaphor reasoning score by age and gender of preschool children (<i>p</i>>0.05). In addition, the Pearson correlation showed a positive relationship between metaphor and reasoning comprehension scores, as well as receptive vocabulary scores (<i>r</i>=0.302, <i>p</i>=0.035) and a positive relationship between metaphor and reasoning comprehension scores and expressive vocabulary scores (<i>r</i>=0.314, <i>p</i>=0.028). In addition, most errors occur in understanding the literal meaning rather than the implied meaning or metaphor of the sentence.Conclusion: In early young children, vocabulary plays an essential role in the metaphor interpretation process. However, to better understand the development of metaphor language comprehension in preschool children, exploring other factors affecting their ability to understand metaphor language and investigating their relationships is necessary.