Journal article
D. Gentner, M. Imai
2003
2003
Semantic Scholar
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Cite
APA
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Gentner, D., & Imai, M. (2003). Is the future always ahead? Evidence for system-mappings in understanding space-time metaphors.
Chicago/Turabian
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Gentner, D., and M. Imai. “Is the Future Always Ahead? Evidence for System-Mappings in Understanding Space-Time Metaphors” (2003).
MLA
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Gentner, D., and M. Imai. Is the Future Always Ahead? Evidence for System-Mappings in Understanding Space-Time Metaphors. 2003.
BibTeX Click to copy
@article{d2003a,
title = {Is the future always ahead? Evidence for system-mappings in understanding space-time metaphors},
year = {2003},
author = {Gentner, D. and Imai, M.}
}
Abstract
Languages often use spatial terms to talk about time. FRONT-BACK spatial terms are the terms most often imported from SPACE to TIME cross-linguistically . However, in English there are two different metaphorical mapping systems assigning FRONT BACK to events in time. This research examines the psychological reality of the two mapping systems: specifically, we ask whether subjects construct global domain-mappings between SPACE and TIME when comprehending sentences such as "Graduation lies before her" and "His birthday comes before Christmas ." Two experiments were conducted to test the above question . In both experiments, subjects' comprehension time was slowed down when temporal relations were presented across the two different metaphorical systems inconsistently. This suggests that people had to pay a substantial remapping cost when the mapping system was switched from one to the other. The existence of domain mappings in on-line processing further suggests that the two SPACE/TIME metaphorical mapping systems are psychologically real.
