La comprensión de metáforas no requiere realizar simulaciones sensorio-motoras del dominio base

There is evidence for the idea that people employ conceptual metaphors (CMs) to interpret metaphorical expressions (MEs), although the available data regarding the thesis that comprehending MEs requires sensory-motor simulations of the base domains of such CMs is scarce and ambiguous. An experiment was carried out to determine whether such sensory-motor simulations are necessary or at least enrichthe comprehension of MEs. Sighted and congenitally blind subjects paraphrased novel MEs derived from the seeingunderstanding CM. The congenitally blind showed very good comprehension of these MEs, and their performanceon this task was not inferior compared to the sighted. It is concluded that sensory-motor simulations are not necessary nor do they enrich the comprehension of MEs, and that amodal CMs are enough for this task. Implications of the obtained results for the embodied view of Lakoff and Johnson's conceptual metaphor theory are discussed.