Abstract: Abstract□□Are metaphoric and literal meanings processing concurrently or else, we should first try to access the literal meaning and only after failing we try to find a metaphorical one in metaphor comprehension？Researchers then proposed two hypotheses: three-stage model and parallel hypotheses. The present paper verified the above assumption experimentally. We used Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to study the process of metaphor comprehension and focused on the time-course difference between the comprehension of metaphorical sentences and literal ones. 31 participants were college students, with a mean age of 22.21. They were asked to perform a semantic judgment task that deciding whether the sentence they saw in the screen of computer conveyed a meaningful expression or not. E-prime software was used to compile the experimental program. The EEG data was recorded by a Neuroscan 64 Channels System. ERPs data revealed that the waveforms and scalp distributions of ERPs which was evoked by literal sentences and metaphoric ones were in agreement (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). The terminal words of error sentences and novel metaphors elicited the most negative N400 amplitudes, followed by familiar metaphors, with literal sentences smallest. The effect of sentence type was significant, F(2,55)=43.40, p<0.001. The main effect of sentence type in N200 was not significant, F(3,60)=2.28, p>0.05. As the N400 reflects the processing mechanism in comprehension and the terminal words of metaphors elicited the same waveform and scalp distribution of N400 with the terminal words of literal sentences. We conclude that metaphors share the same processing mechanism with literal ones. That is the results support the parallel hypothesis and fall to support three-stage model. But the amplitude differences that the amplitude of metaphor is more positive than error sentences and more negative than literal ones suggests cognitive resources that cost in metaphoric comprehension are much more than in literal ones. There was no significant difference between four type sentences in N200 reveal that N200 reflects a corresponding process. We argued that the process of metaphor and literal sentences share the same mechanism, but the process of metaphor needs more cognitive resource. The results support the parallel hypothesis of metaphor comprehension.

Key words: Key words□□Metaphor comprehension, ERPs, Parallel hypothesis, N400

摘要： 摘 要 本研究使用ERPs技术考察隐喻句与本义句理解时程的异同，以研究汉语隐喻的理解机制。以句尾范式向被试随机呈现本义句、熟悉隐喻句、新奇隐喻句及错误义句各50句，被试的任务为判断每句话是否有意义。结果显示：两种隐喻句诱发的N400波形与头皮分布情况和本义句无明显差异，且两种隐喻句诱发的N400波幅高于本义句。本研究结果证明汉语隐喻义和本义理解的认知机制类似，支持隐喻理解的平行加工假说，且加工隐喻义需要耗费更多的认知资源。

关键词: 关键词 隐喻理解□ERPs□平行加工假说□N400