Preschoolers' Comprehension of Functional Metaphors

Previous work suggests that preschoolers cannot understand metaphors based on abstract similarities, such as shared functions. However, recent work suggests that preschoolers are already capable of relational reasoning, suggesting that the cognitive foundations for metaphor comprehension develop earlier than previously believed. Using novel paradigms, three experiments explored whether preschoolers (N = 200, ages 4-5) were capable of understanding metaphors based on functional similarities. In Experiment 1, both preschoolers and adults (N = 48) rated functional metaphors as “smarter” than nonsense statements. In Experiment 2, preschoolers preferred functional explanations over perceptual explanations when interpreting functional metaphors. In Experiment 3, preschoolers preferred functional metaphors over nonsense statements in a dichotomous-choice task. These results suggest that preschoolers are able to understand functional metaphors.