Bidirectionality and Interaction in Metaphor Comprehension and Production: A Reply to Mark J. Bruhn

Metaphor comprehension is not necessarily equivalent to metaphor production, nor do these necessarily refer to the same process. While both demand creative acts of cognition on the part of the reader and the poet, these are not necessarily the same type of creativity. Metaphor comprehension begins first with the target, as seen through the lens of the source. This is a process, which entails subsequent transformations of both target and source, in an interactive, bidirectional series of acts of cognition. Metaphor production, in contrast, conforms to a target first model, as proposed by Bruhn. This is a process, which first selects an appropriate source, that is “created and construed” according to that target, and which continues with an interactive, bidirectional series of acts of cognition.