FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE METAPHOR COMPREHENSION SKILLS IN ADULTHOOD

We investigated differences between older and younger adults in interp reting metaphors describing emotions (e.g., ''Joe was crashing thunder ,'' meaning that he was angry). Subjects selected emotional interpreta tions and explained the basis for their selection for 12 metaphors. Tw enty-four older and 24 younger adults read metaphors that described em otions. The group performed identically when selecting interpretations , but older adults were more likely to make up stories about the perso n named in the metaphor to explain the metaphor than were younger adul ts, who focused on attributes of the metaphoric terms. These findings suggest that observed adult age differences in metaphor comprehension reflect methodological factors and may reflect cognitive style differe nces.