Visual and verbal metaphors among children with typical language and language disorders

Twelve children with language disorders and 12 control subjects were presen ted with a series of 24 photographic plates from the Metaphoric Triads Test and asked to explain all possible pairings. They also performed a similar task, matched for content, using verbally prepared stimuli. For each trial, one pairing had been designed to make highly probable a metaphoric pairing , Control subjects provided significantly more metaphoric accounts of pairi ngs than children with language disorders, regardless of modality. In addit ion, photographic plates elicited significantly more metaphoric pairings th an verbal preparations. No significant interactions were observed. The find ings are discussed from the perspectives of (1) generalized symbolic functi on and (2) verbal mediation function. The authors call for more research on the role of verbal mediation in metaphoric reasoning. (C) 1999 by Elsevier Science Inc.