Metaphor – neuroscientific basis

V preteklosti se je razvilo več pogledov na metaforo, v zadnjem stoletju pa se je s področja literarne vede in poetike teorija metafore preselila tudi v najrazličnejše druge vede. V nalogi so na kratko opisane glavne teorije metafore (substitucijska, primerjalna, interakcijska in kognitivna teorija metafore), omenjena pa je tudi slovnična klasifikacija metafor. Nevroznanstvene raziskave svoja dognanja umeščajo v okvire kognitivnih teorij, zato so v nalogi na kratko predstavljene tudi glavne teorije procesiranja figurativnega jezika in njihova nevroznanstvena osnova (model posrednega in neposrednega pristopa, na omejitvah temelječ pristop, teorija o potovanju metafore in teorija stopenjske poglavitnosti). Ker so teorije bolj usmerjene v procesiranje figurativnega jezika, je dodan komentar, zakaj in kako so pomembne tudi za poetično metaforo. Ob tem je dodan tudi kritičen komentar zasnov nevroznanstvenih raziskav in predlogi za metodološko izboljšavo. Predstavljena je tudi vloga razumevanja metafore pri različnih boleznih in možnost za uporabo razumevanja poetične metafore kot diagnostičnega sredstva.While several views on metaphor theory were already developed in the past, the theory of the metaphor has expanded from literary science and poetics to various other scientific fields in the last century. Herein we briefly describe the main theories of the metaphor (substitution, comparison, interactive and cognitive metaphor theory) and go over the grammatical classification of metaphors. Neuroscience often presents its findings in a way that incorporates the framework of cognitive theories. Therefore, this paper also briefly outlines the main theories of figurative language processing and their neuroscientific basis (model of direct and indirect access, constraint-based approach, career of metaphor theory and the graded salience hypothesis). Since these theories are more focused on the processing of figurative language, a commentary is added on why and how are they also important for poetic metaphors. We have also provided critical commentary on the concepts of neuroscientific research and suggested some methodological improvements. To show the importance of this field, we have also presented the role of understanding metaphor processing in various diseases and the possibility of using the understanding of poetic metaphor as a diagnostic tool