METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE AND THE EFFECTS ON RETENTION OF NOVEL CONCEPTS IN CHILDREN

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that metaphorical language is more emotionally salient and causes significant activation in the regions of the brain involving emotions as compared to literal language. Additionally, since research recognizes that emotional events are more memorable, this study proposes the question, “Does teaching a concept using metaphorical language increase retention rates in children?” The study recruited 30 normally developing children ranging from ages 13-17 to participate. After being randomly split into two groups, participants were taught forty concepts (20 in science and 20 in literature). Half of the concepts were taught used metaphorical language and the other half used literal language in one group and switched in the other. In order to measure changes in scores before and after instruction of the concepts, the participants took both a pre-test and post-test. When comparing the scores between the results of the tests, there was a higher increase in scores with the metaphorically taught science questions as compared to the literally taught questions, however the difference was not statistically significant. The literature questions showed higher scores for the literally taught topics going against the initial hypothesis.