The Role of Executive Working Memory in L2 Learners' Metaphoric Sentence Comprehension

The cognitive mechanism of metaphoric language comprehension has been a focus in linguistics and psychology. Recently, L2 learners' metaphoric cognitive mechanism has also been a heated topic. With a view to probe into this cognitive process and the affecting factors, this study adopted a mixed experimental model of 3 (sentence type:non-metaphoric, metaphoric and scrambling)×3(working memory capacity:low, mid and high)×3(inhibition ability:low, mid and high), in which the subjects were required to judge whether the meaning of each sentence was correct. The results showed:1)the main effect of sentence types was significant, the reaction time and accuracy of judgment was significantly different; 2)the reaction time and accuracy of the metaphoric sentences was also impacted by working memory capacity and inhibition ability; 3)there was a strong correlation between working memory capacity and inhibition ability that might co-contribute to metaphoric sentence comprehension.