Abstract

Metaphor research is currently undergoing renewed interest in the concrete-abstract continuum. Lexical processing research shows that concrete words like “cat,” “vase,” and “book” are processed more quickly and with clearer mental imagery than abstract words such as “government,” “accident,” and “dream.” This poses some interesting questions about metaphor processing, as metaphors often show a conceptual asymmetry where Topic terms are abstract, and Vehicles are concrete. While this pattern suggests that disparity in this dimension may be an enabling or constraining feature of metaphor interpretation, we contend that concreteness should be viewed instead as a fluid and adaptable dimension of lexical concept interaction. According to Interaction Theory, metaphors have a powerful ability to reshape our perception of concepts, and we seek to investigate how this relates to the concreteness of both the Topic and the Vehicle. Through a qualitative analysis of metaphor appreciation, we examine the cognitive processes that facilitate navigation between abstraction and concretion. We propose that the characteristic adaptability of concepts’ concreteness necessitates an ad hoc model of mental representation in metaphor, moving beyond the traditional fixed models that have long underpinned theories of metaphor.