Resource allocation for visual metaphor processing: A study of political cartoons

ABSTRACT

This paper is a study of visual metaphor processing in political cartoons, while secondary task reaction time was used to assess resource allocation when processing three types of visual metaphors, namely juxtapositions, fusions and replacements. Participants viewed a series of visual metaphors. At various intervals, they were invited to push a button whenever a probe appeared. Reaction times to detect the probes were recorded. Subsequently, participants performed recall and recognition tasks. Results showed that participants reacted faster to each successive probe, while metaphor type had no influence on reaction times. Concerning the recall task, the percentage of correctly recalled items was significantly lower for juxtapositions compared to replacements; results for fusions were in between the two. Recognition scores for juxtapositions and fusions were lower than those for replacements. These findings are discussed in the framework of visual metaphors literature, thus providing empirical support to visual metaphor processing.