Proverb comprehension: The primacy of literal meaning

According to the multistage model of figurative language understanding, lit eral meanings must be del,eloped before figurative meanings. Although the m odel implies that figurative understanding should take longer than literal understanding, Kemper (1981) reported that figuratively biased proverbs wer e processed more quickly than literalized proverbs. By contrast, in the pre sent study the results from six experiments yielded the opposite conclusion . These results support the multistage model and the conceptual base theory of proverb comprehension (Honeck, 1997; Honeck & Temple, 1994; Honeck, Voe gtle, Dorfmueller, & Hoffman, 1980) which incorporates it. Discrepancies be tween studies that have examined the multistage model may crucially depend on methodological factors such as type of experimental design, materials, a nd, as apparent in the present case the task and dependent measure used.