Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Brain and Cognition 67 (2008) 51–57

www.elsevier.com/locate/b&c

Proverb interpretation changes in aging

Jennifer Uekermann *, Patrizia Thoma, Irene Daum
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology, GAFO 05/607, Ruhr-University of Bochum,
Universitatsstrase 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany

Accepted 15 November 2007

Available online 4 March 2008

Abstract

Recent investigations have emphasized the involvement of fronto-subcortical networks to proverb comprehension. Although the pre-
frontal cortex is thought to be affected by normal aging, relatively little work has been carried out to investigate potential effects of aging
on proverb comprehension.
In the present investigation participants in three age groups were assessed on a proverb comprehension task and a range of executive
function tasks.
The older group showed impairment in selecting correct interpretations from alternatives. They also showed executive function def-
icits, as reflected by reduced working memory and deficient set shifting and inhibition abilities.
The findings of the present investigation showed proverb comprehension deficits in normal aging which appeared to be related to
reduced executive skills.
 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Aging; Executive functions; Proverb interpretation; Figurative language

1. Introduction unilateral brain damage suggest an involvement of both

The ability to understand and to use non-literal language,
which is frequently used in everyday communication, has
been shown to enhance both social competence and profes-
sional achievement (Nippold & Martin, 1989). Proverbs
are among the most common instances of non-literal lan-
guage and may be broadly defined as ‘‘familiar, fixed, senten-
tial expressions that communicate well-known truths, social
norms, or moral concerns’’ (Gibbs & Beitel, 1995). Most but
not all proverbs contain metaphors, which make explicit or
implicit comparisons between ideas from different, usually
unrelated knowledge domains (Gibbs, 1999).
The neural underpinnings of figurative language compre-
hension have been linked to the right hemisphere, while most
other aspects of language processing are lateralized to the left
hemisphere (see Bookheimer, 2002). Studies in patients with
* The adequate understanding and use of figurative
Corresponding author. Fax: +49 234 32 14622.
E-mail address: Jennifer.Uekermann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de (J. Ueker-
mann).
hemispheres, presumably depending on stimulus modality
(e.g., verbal vs. visual material). Bilateral involvement of
fronto-temporal networks in figurative language processing
has been documented by several recent neuroimaging studies
(Lee & Dapretto, 2006; Mashal, Faust, & Hendler, 2005;
Mashal, Faust, Hendler, & Jung-Beeman, 2007; Sotillo
et al., 2005; see Thoma & Daum, 2006 for a review). The right
hemisphere seems to be more involved in processing complex
syntactic and semantic structures and in activating distant
semantic associations and alternative interpretations, partic-
ularly in the case of unfamiliar figurative expressions, when
adequate context processing is crucial for decoding the
appropriate meaning. The left hemisphere, on the other
hand, is involved in selecting the most common meaning,
particularly for single words or familiar metaphors (Mashal
et al., 2005, 2007; Rapp, Leube, Erb, Grodd, & Kircher,
2004, 2007).
language have been shown to be impaired in a range of
disorders, e.g. agenesis of the corpus callosum (Paul,

0278-2626/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2007.11.003
52 J. Uekermann et al. / Brain and Cognition 67 (2008) 51–57
Lancker-Sidtis, Schieffer, Dietrich, & Brown, 2003), autism
(Landa & Goldberg, 2005; Strandburg et al., 1993), Parkin-
son’s (Monetta & Pell, 2007) and Alzheimer’s Disease
(Papagno, Lucchelli, Muggia, & Rizzo, 2003). The deficits
have generally been linked to dysfunction of fronto-tempo-
ral or fronto-subcortical circuitry or a disruption of inter-
hemispheric information transfer. In addition, impaired
figurative language processing may be associated with
impaired executive control function (ECF) which has also
been linked to disrupted fronto-subcortical networks
(e.g., Brown, Paul, Symington, & Dietrich, 2005; Brüne
& Bodenstein, 2005; Monetta & Pell, 2007; Rajendran,
Mitchell, & Rickards, 2005; Sponheim, Surerus-Johnson,
Leskela, & Dieperink, 2003). The theoretical construct of
ECF encompasses abilities such as context processing in
working memory, response inhibition and cognitive flexi-
bility (see Heyder, Suchan, & Daum, 2004; Royall et al.,
2002). Interpretation of figurative language relies heavily
on these abilities, requiring appropriate processing of con-
text information, the inhibition of contextually inappropri-
ate, literal interpretation and flexible switching between
figurative and literal interpretations of certain expressions,
depending on the available context. The potential relevance
of executive functions is supported by Moran, Gillon, and
Nippold (2006), who reported an influence of working
memory on proverb comprehension in patients with trau-
matic injury and healthy controls.
The ‘‘frontal aging hypothesis’’ suggests that the pre-
frontal cortex (PFC) is particularly vulnerable to the effects
of normal aging (e.g., Tisserand & Jolles, 2003; West &
Covell, 2001). This hypothesis is supported by dispropor-
tionate age-associated neuronal changes in the PFC (Tiss-
erand et al., 2002; Wang et al., 1995) and pronounced
executive function impairments (e.g., Brennan, Welsh, &
Fisher, 1997; Milham et al, 2002; Thompson-Schill et al.,
2002; Treitz, Heyder, & Daum, 2007). Social decision mak-
ing is less consistently impaired (MacPherson, Phillips, &
Della Sala, 2002) which might be related to the relative
sparing of ventromedial relative to dorsolateral PFC.
Despite demonstrated improvements in familiarity of
proverbs across age (e.g., Kircher, Leube, Erb, Grodd, &
Rapp, 2007), older people perform more poorly on proverb
comprehension tasks than younger people. Nippold,
Uhden, and Schwarz (1997) reported a decline of proverb
comprehension in the 60s and 70s. These findings suggest
other mechanisms contributing to proverb comprehension
in older adults. Figurative language has shown to be
impaired in clinical populations with fronto-subcortical
dysfunction (see above). These deficits have been linked
to difficulties with executive control function (ECF). The
aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship
between executive function and proverb comprehension in
normal aging. A multiple-choice proverb comprehension
test was administered and in an extension of the procedure
used by Nippold et al. (1997), proverb familiarity ratings
were also included to assess the potential modulatory
effects on proverb interpretation across aging.
2. Methods
2.1. Participants
One hundred and five healthy participants gave
informed consent for the study. The study was completed
in accordance with the Helsinki declaration (Varga,
1984). Participants were given a health screening interview.
Exclusion critera were history of psychiatric or neurologi-
cal illness, head trauma or substance abuse and current
medication affecting the CNS. The Mini Mental State
Examination (Folstein, Folstein, & McHugh, 1975) was
administered to screen for dementia (cut off score: 26).
Participants were assigned to three age groups: younger
(20–39 yrs; n = 35; 14m, 21f), middle-aged (41–57 yrs;
n = 35; 14m, 21f) and older subjects (60–79; n = 35; 14m,
21f). The three age groups differed significantly on an esti-
mate of general intellectual ability (IQ), as assessed by the
subtests ‘‘Similarities’’ and ‘‘Picture Completion’’ of the
reduced Wechsler Intelligence Scales (WIP; Dahl, 1986)
(F(2,104) = 4.26; p = .02). Subsequent paired comparisons,
using Tukey-Tests yielded significantly higher scores of the
older group in comparison with the younger group
(p = .04). The groups also differed on years of education
(F(2,104)=31.72; p < .0001), with a lower score of the older
group in comparison with both younger groups (both
p < .0001). In addition, the middle age group had com-
pleted fewer years of education than the younger group
(p = .02). The groups also differed on a depression rating
(F(2,104)=4.92; p = .009), with lower scores of the youn-
gest subjects compared to both other groups (both
p < .026).
Data for the demographic variables are shown in Table 1.
3. Proverb interpretation
The proverb interpretation task used in this study com-
prises 32 items and was developed in our lab (Thoma &
Daum, 2006). Six items were adopted from an Austrian
proverbs task developed by Barth and Kufferle (2001)
and the remaining 26 items were selected from a lexicon
of German proverbs and idioms (Duden, 2002). Only prov-
erbs based on at least one metaphorical expression were
included in order to maximize the demand on the ability
to provide an abstract interpretation of figurative language.
Table 1
Demographic data, general intellectual functioning and affect (means and
standard errors) in the three groups
20–39 yrs 40–59 yrs 60+ yrs
N (ns) 35 35 35
Age*** 26.37 (1.00) 49.03 (0.79) 68.17 (0.99)
Education*** 12.47 (0.17) 11.48 (0.26) 9.60 (0.32)
IQ* 112.95 (1.03) 118.35 (1.76) 118.05 (1.53)
Depression* 3.51 (0.49) 5.97 (0.70) 5.86 (0.66)
Note. NS indicates that means are not statistically different; *p < .05;
***p < .0001.
 J. Uekermann et al. / Brain and Cognition 67 (2008) 51–57
The first part of the task assesses familiarity ratings for
each proverb. A five-point-response scale ranging from ‘‘I
have never read or heard this proverb before’’ to ‘‘I have
frequently read or heard this proverb’’ was used for this
purpose.
In the second part of the task, subjects are instructed to
choose the figurative, non-literal meaning of each proverb
out of four response alternatives which vary along two
dimensions: the degree of abstraction (abstract/ figurative
vs. concretistic/ literal) and meaningfulness (meaningful
vs. meaningless). These dimensions are based on the proce-
dure used by Barth and Kufferle (2001) in their Austrian
version of a proverbs task. The dimension ‘‘abstraction’’
refers to the degree to which all metaphoric expressions
in the proverb have been replaced by an abstract interpre-
tation. Meaningfulness on the other hand relates to the
question whether the content of the proverb has been ade-
quately understood by the subject. In contrast to Barth and
Kufferle (2001), we did not include a distinction between
‘‘partially’’ and ‘‘highly’’ concretistic response options.
Of the four response alternatives, Type I responses
(abstract, meaningful) represent the only correct response
by giving an abstract interpretation of the metaphoric
expressions in the proverb which adequately mirrors the
proverb content. The correct responses are based on the
proverb explanations provided by the lexicon of German
proverbs and idioms (Duden, 2002), while the other
response options were developed according to the follow-
ing criteria. Type II responses are abstract, but do not
make sense with regard to the meaning of the proverb in
question, Type III responses are meaningful and thus ade-
quately mirror the content of the proverb but remain con-
cretistic while Type IV are both concretistic and
meaningless. The order of the four response types is ran-
domized across items (see Table 2 for an example of an
item and of each type of response).
In a pilot study, the proverbs task was administered to a
sample of 87 healthy subjects (30 male, 57 female; age
Table 2
Example of a proverb item and the four response alternatives
Abstract
Item 6: ‘‘Barking dogs seldom bite’’
Meaningful Type I (correct response): Those who rant loudly, usually leave it
at that; those who cast horrible threats, rarely carry them out
Meaningless Type II: It is useless to try to attract attention at any time;
sometimes it might be better to remain in the background
Item 15: ‘‘All that glitters is not gold’’
Meaningful Type I (correct response): Things are often not what they seem
to be
Meaningless Type II: Life is not only about becoming rich, because that alone
does not make anyone happy
Item 17: ‘‘Rome was not built in a day’’
Meaningful Type I (correct response): It takes its time to accomplish
important things
Meaningless Type II: People who are lazy and work very slowly, accomplish
their goals only with great effort
53
range: 19–67). Analysis yielded item difficulty indices of
at least .75 for all proverbs. Item difficulty was calculated
according to Lienert and Raatz (1998):
P = 100 · Nr/N with Nr = Number of participants who
completed the task and N = Number of all participants.
4. Executive function
4.1. Inhibition
Inhibition of a habitual response was assessed by the
Stroop test (Bäumler, 1985). The participants were told
to read aloud colour words (printed in black ink) as fast
as possible (reading), to name the colour of coloured lines
(naming), and to name the ink colour of colour words
printed in an incongruent colour, such as ‘‘RED’’ in green
ink (interference). The time taken for each task was
recorded and the time to complete the third condition
reflects inhibition.
4.2. Set shifting
Speed of information processing and set shifting were
assessed by the Trail Making Test (Reitan, 1992). In part
A, participants drew lines to connect numbers in ascending
order. In the part B, which reflects set shifting, they were
asked to alternate between numbers and letters, in ascend-
ing order (e.g., 1-A-2-B). Time taken for completion of
each part was recorded.
4.3. Short-term and working memory
Short-term was assessed by the forward digit span task
and working memory was measured using the backward
digit span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scales-revised (Wechsler, 1981). In the forward condition,
sequences of numbers read out by the experimenter have
to be repeated. In the backward task, digit sequences have
Concretistic
Type III: A dog is not able to bark and bite at the same time. So you
do not need to be afraid of a barking dog
Type IV: If a dog wants something, it starts to bite
Type III: Metals which are less valuable than gold may also glitter
(e.g., silver or steel). Thus, glitter alone is no indicator of a high value
Type IV:Gold is not the most valuable of all metals
Type III: It took the Romans several centuries in order to build the
city of Rome
Type IV: It takes several days in order to visit Rome because the
important monuments in this city are so numerous
54 J. Uekermann et al. / Brain and Cognition 67 (2008) 51–57

to be reproduced in reverse order. The number of correctly Table 3

reproduced sequences in the forward and backward condi- Executive functions, number of alternative choices and familiarity ratings
in the proverb comprehension task
tion was recorded.
20–39 yrs 40–59 yrs 60+ yrs

5. Results Stroop test

Reading*** 28.75 (0.87) 30.41 (0.64) 35.59 (1.08)
Naming* 43.79 (1.64) 43.42 (1.34) 51.31 (1.82)
5.1. Proverb comprehension Interference*** 70.79 (2.94) 72.56 (2.12) 104 (4.67)
Corrected errors* 1.20 (0.22) 1.03 (0.16) 2.23 (0.45)
5.1.1. Selection of interpretations Uncorrected errors 0.23 (0.8) 0.26 (0.12) 0.66 (0.19)
The results for correct interpretations are shown in Trail making test A*** 25.84 (1.34) 30.31 (1.33) 44.10 (2.48)
Trail making test B*** 59.05 (4.14) 69.94 (4.27) 113.43 (10.33)
Fig. 1.
Digit span forward* 8.60 (0.34) 9.00 (0.39) 7.11 (0.34)
The three age groups differed significantly on the num- Digit span backward*** 7.97 (0.38) 8.51 (0.48) 6.03 (0.26)
ber of correct endings (F(2,104) = 14.19; p < .0001), which Correct interpretations*** 30.26 (0.29) 30.08 (0.37) 25.26 (1.22)
was due to a significantly lower score of the older group in Abstract-meaningless* 1.57 (0.27) 1.28 (0.29) 3.17 (0.60)
comparison with the other age groups (both p < .0001). Concretistic-meaningful*** 0.28 (0.13) 0.48 (0.16) 2.83 (0.69)
Concretistic-meaningless* 0.28 (0.28) 0.11 (0.05) 0.83 (0.27)
The data for the number of abstract-meaningless, con-
Familiarity*** 3.74 (0.09) 4.37 (0.07) 4.51 (0.08)
cretistic-meaningful and concretistic-meaningless interpre-
tations and familiarity ratings are described in Table 3. Note. NS indicates that means are not statistically different; *p < .05;
***p < .0001.
Analyses yielded significant group differences for
abstract-meaningless (F(2,104) = 5.90; p = .004), concret-
istic-meaningful (F(2,104) = 11.53; p < .0001) and concret-
istic-meaningless (F(2,104) = 7.69; p = .001) group in comparison with the two younger groups (all
interpretations; the older group had higher scores com- p < .004). There were also significant group differences for
pared to both other age groups (all p < .023). Familiarity corrected errors (F(2,104) = 4.49; p = .01), with signifi-
ratings also differed significantly between groups cantly higher number of errors of the older group in com-
(F(2,104) = 23.05, p < .0001), with lower ratings in the parison with both other age groups (both p < .05).
younger group compared to the middle and older groups
(both p < .0001). 5.2.2. Set shifting
The results for the Trail Making Test are presented in
5.2. Executive functions Table 3.
ANOVAs revealed significant group differences for tasks
5.2.1. Inhibition A (F(2,104) = 27.95; p < .0001) and B (F(2,104) = 17.46;
The performance for the Stroop test is shown in Table 3. p < .0001). The older group needed significantly more time
ANOVAs yielded significant group differences for ‘‘reading to complete tasks A and B in comparison with the two
colour words’’ (F(2,104) = 16.30; p < .0001) ‘‘naming col- other groups (all p < .0001). A corrected set shifting score
our patches’’ (F(2,104) = 7.611; p = .001) and the ‘‘interfer- (TMTB-TMTA/TMTA) did not yield any significant
ence’’ condition (F(2,104) = 30.11; p < .0001). A corrected group differences.
interference score (interference-naming/naming) also
yielded significant age differences (F(2,104) = 17.89; 5.2.3. Short-term and working memory
p < .0001), with significantly lower scores of the older The results for the digit span tasks are shown in Table 3.
Significant age group differences emerged for forward
(F(2,104) = 7.63; p = .001) and backward reproduction
(F(2,104) = 11.45; p < .0001), with poorer performance of
the older group compared to the other groups (p < .013).

5.2.4. Covariance analyses

Fig. 1. Results (means and standard errors) for the proverb comprehen-
sion task.
Since the three age groups differed on years of education
and depression ratings, analyses of covariance were per-
formed. Using education as a covariate, the age group dif-
ferences for the backward condition of the digit span task
and the number of abstract-meaningless and concretistic-
meaningless interpretations were no longer significant, all
other significant group differences were unaffected (all
p < .034). Analysis of covariance using depression ratings
as a covariate did not affect the significant age differences
for proverb interpretation or executive functions (all
p < .03).
 J. Uekermann et al. / Brain and Cognition 67 (2008) 51–57
5.2.5. Correlational analyses
5.2.5.1. Correlations in the younger group. Correlational
analyses including executive functions (working memory,
inhibition, set shifting) and proverb comprehension (cor-
rect, abstract-meaningless, concretistic-meaningful and
concretistic-meaningless interpretations), yielded signifi-
cant associations between the number of correct interpreta-
tions, set shifting corrected for overall slowing (r = .43;
p = .01), and working memory (r = .36; p = .03).
5.2.5.2. Correlations in the middle group. Analyses yielded
significant correlations between working memory and the
number of correct interpretations (r = 50; p = .002),
abstract-meaningless (r = .53; p = .001) and concret-
istic-meaningless interpretations (r = .43; p = .01).
5.2.5.3. Correlations in the older group. Correlational anal-
yses yielded significant associations between the number of
correct interpretations and working memory (r = .37;
p = .03). In addition, the number of abstract-meaningless
interpretations correlated significantly with corrected
(r = .36; p = .03) and uncorrected errors (r = .34, p = .05).
5.2.5.4. Partial correlations. To further investigate the ques-
tion whether executive functions impairments contribute to
proverb interpretation deficits, correlational analyses con-
trolling for effects of age and years of education were per-
formed. The results for analyses including all participants
are illustrated in Table 4.
6. Regression analysis
In order to further investigate the associations between
executive functions and proverb comprehension in the
sample with all participants, multiple regression analyses
were performed using the ‘‘enter method’’ with proverb
comprehension (number of correct interpretations) as
dependent variable and years of education as well as work-
ing memory as predictors. Inhibition and set shifting were
not included as predictors because they were not related
linearly to the dependent variable, and one of the precon-
ditions for regression analyses was thus not met. Analyses
yielded significant effects for both working memory
Table 4
Results for the correlational analyses controlling for age and education
Corr Am Cmf Cml
WM r = .28* r = .19 r = .23* r = .23*
INH r = .03 r = .02 r = .04 r = .01
INHce r = .17 r = .31 ** r = .002 r = .02
INHue r = .17 r = .31** r = .002 r = .02
SET r = .23* r = .01 r = .01 r = .15
Note. WM, working memory; INH, inhibition; INHcr, inhibition cor-
rected errors; INHue; uncorrected errors; SET, set shifting; Corr, correct
interpretations; Am, abstract meaningless; Cmf, concretistic-meaningful;
Cml, concretistic-meaningless; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.0001.
55
(p = .003) and years of education (p < .001) with an
adjusted R2 = .30.
7. Discussion
The present study aimed to assess age effects on proverb
comprehension, focusing on the potential contributions of
proverb familiarity and executive function abilities. As the
middle aged and younger subjects, older people most com-
monly chose the correct interpretation, although less fre-
quently so. They also made more errors in terms of
choosing abstract-meaningless, concretistic-meaningful
and concretistic-meaningless interpretations more fre-
quently than the other groups. As expected, older people
also showed executive function impairments relative to
younger subjects, as reflected by reduced working memory,
set shifting and inhibition abilities.
Taken together, the findings of the present investigation
suggest impaired proverb comprehension in older subjects.
This is consistent with the study by Nippold et al. (1997),
who reported age-associated changes in the ability to
describe proverb meaning in an open format. This study
did not include familiarity ratings and error analyses. The
present findings indicate that proverbs were more familiar
to older people than younger people, and lack of familiar-
ity does thus not underlie the observed proverb compre-
hension deficits.
With regard to types of errors, older subjects showed a
tendency towards more concretistic-meaningful interpreta-
tions than younger subjects. Interpretation of proverbs in a
literal rather than in an abstract way has been most consis-
tently observed in schizophrenia (Benjamin, 1944; Brüne &
Bodenstein, 2005; Mitchell & Crow, 2005). Schizophrenia
patients fail to recruit the left inferior frontal and the right
lateral temporal cortices during metaphor processing (Kir-
cher et al., 2007), brain areas which have also been shown
to be particularly affected during normal aging.
Why do older people choose more concretistic
interpretations? Processing of figurative language has
consistently been linked to fronto-temporal and fronto-
subcortical circuits (see e.g., Lauro, Tettamanti, Cappa,
& Papagno, 2007). Binder, Westbury, McKiernan, Pos-
sing, and Medler (2005) reported an activation of the left
lateral temporal lobe while reading abstract and concrete
words. Relative to the concrete word condition, abstract
words were associated with activation of left inferior
frontal regions. In addition, Rapp et al. (2004) found sig-
nal changes of the lateral inferior frontal, inferior tempo-
ral and posterior middle/inferior temporal gyri during
metaphor reading. The PFC has been reported to be dis-
proportionately affected during normal aging (Tisserand
& Jolles, 2003; West & Covell, 2001), and PFC age
changes may also underlie the proverb comprehension
deficits of older people in the current study. However,
imaging studies are clearly desirable to further elucidate
the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying proverb com-
prehension changes in aging.
56 J. Uekermann et al. / Brain and Cognition 67 (2008) 51–57
With regard to mediating cognitive processes, general
intellectual abilities are not likely to produce the observed
age effects in proverb comprehension, since older subjects
scored higher in an IQ screening than the two younger
groups. Older subjects had enjoyed less years of education
than the younger groups, and regression analysis confirmed
the contribution of years of education to proverb compre-
hension. However, age effects were still observed for the
overall correct scores and errors in terms of concretistic-
meaningful interpretation when education was used as a
covariate. Thus, the lower education in elderly people does
not explain the result pattern completely.
A further plausible explanation for proverb comprehen-
sion deficits in aging might relate to the higher executive
demands inherent in the correct interpretation. For the
selection of the correct interpretation, participants have
to hold the proverb, the different alternatives and the
instructions in memory. In addition, the possible alterna-
tive interpretations have to be compared, evaluated and
linked to the context of the proverb (see e.g., Nippold,
Martin, & Erskine, 1988 and Ferretti, Schwint, & Katz,
2007 for the role of context processing in figurative lan-
guage comprehension). Other executive function abilities
such as shifting between different possible interpretations
and inhibition of dominant but incorrect interpretations
are also of relevance. In the present investigation, the older
group showed working memory and inhibition impair-
ments relative to younger subjects; deficits which may
make a significant contribution to the proverb interpreta-
tion problems. These links were clearly supported by corre-
lational/regression analyses.
Our results are in good agreement with studies relating
executive dysfunction to impairments of figurative lan-
guage comprehension in clinical populations suffering from
fronto-temporal dysfunction. Concretistic proverb inter-
pretations have been linked to poor performance on work-
ing memory (schizophrenia: Kiang et al., 2007; Alzheimer’s
Disease: Papagno et al., 2003), set shifting (schizophrenia:
Sponheim et al., 2003) and overall executive performance
(autism: Rajendran et al., 2005). Deficient inhibition which
impairs the ability to suppress alternative literal interpreta-
tions of figurative expressions (‘‘suppression deficit hypoth-
esis’’) have been put forward to account for poor figurative
language understanding in PFC lesion patients (Cacciari
et al., 2006; Papagno, Tabossi, Colombo, & Zampetti,
2004). These studies further support our assumption that
mild age-associated changes in fronto-temporal circuitry
might underlie the proverb interpretation deficits in older
people.
One limitation of the present investigation concerns the
ecological validity of the proverb comprehension task. It
has been previously shown that even fourth graders per-
form well on a proverb comprehension task which involves
contextual information (Nippold et al., 1988). In addition,
developmental changes of spontaneous use of proverbs in
everyday life would be of interest. Thus further studies
are desirable, in which active use of proverbs and/or prov-
erb comprehension changes in aging are investigated by
using a more ecologically valid type of task.
Acknowledgment
We thank Marie Hennecke for her contribution to the
development of the proverbs test.
References
Barth, A., & Kufferle, B. (2001). Development of a proverb test for
assessment of concrete thinking problems in schizophrenic patients.
Nervenarzt, 72, 853–858.
Bäumler, G. (1985). Farbe-Wort-Interferenztest (FWIT) nach J.R. Stroop.
Göttingen, Toronto, Zürich: Hogrefe: Verlag für Psychologie.
Benjamin, J. (1944). A method for distinguishing and evaluating formal
thinking disorders in schizophrenia. In J. Kasanin (Ed.), Language and
thought in schizophrenia (pp. 65–90). Berkeley: University of California
Press.
Binder, J. R., Westbury, C. F., McKiernan, K. A., Possing, E. T., & Medler,
D. A. (2005). Distinct brain systems for processing concrete and abstract
concepts. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17(6), 905–917.
Bookheimer, S. (2002). Functional MRI of language: new approaches to
understanding the cortical organization of semantic processing. Annual
Reviews of Neuroscience, 25, 151–188.
Brennan, M., Welsh, M. C., & Fisher, C. B. (1997). Aging and executive
function skills: an examination of a community-dwelling older adult
population. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 84, 1187–1197.
Brown, W. S., Paul, L. K., Symington, M., & Dietrich, R. (2005).
Comprehension of humor in primary agenesis of the corpus callosum.
Neuropsychologia, 43, 906–916.
Brüne, M., & Bodenstein, L. (2005). Proverb comprehension reconsid-
ered—‘theory of mind’ and the pragmatic use of language in
schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 75(2–3), 233–239.
Cacciari, C., Reati, F., Colombo, M. R., Padovani, R., Rizzo, S., &
Papagno, C. (2006). The comprehension of ambiguous idioms in
aphasic patients. Neuropsychologia, 44, 1305–1314.
Dahl, G. (1986). Reduzierter wechsler intelligenztest (WIP). Königstein:
Hain-Verlag.
Duden, D. (2002) (2nd ed.). Band 11: redewendungen. wörterbuch der
deutschen idiomatik (vol. 2). Mannheim, Leipzig: Dudenverlag.
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., & McHugh, P. R. (1975). ‘‘Mini-mental
state’’ a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for
the clinician. Journal of Psychiatry Research, 12, 189–198.
Ferretti, T. R., Schwint, C. A., & Katz, A. N. (2007). Electrophysiological
and behavioral measures of the influence of literal and figurative
contextual constraints on proverb comprehension. Brain and Lan-
guage, 101, 38–49.
Gibbs, R. W. (1999). Figurative language. In R. A. Wilson (Ed.), The MIT
encyclopedia of the cognitive sciences (pp. 314–315). Cambridge MA:
MIT Press.
Gibbs, R. W., Jr., & Beitel, D. (1995). What proverb understanding
reveals about how people think. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 133–154.
Heyder, K., Suchan, B., & Daum, I. (2004). Cortico-subcortical contri-
butions to executive control. Acta Psychologica (Amsterdam), 115,
271–289.
Kiang, M., Light, G. A., Prugh, J., Coulson, S., Braff, D. L., & Kutas, M.
(2007). Cognitive, neurophysiological, and functional correlates of
proverb interpretation abnormalities in schizophrenia. Journal of the
International Neuropsychological Society, 13, 653–663.
Kircher, T. T., Leube, D. T., Erb, M., Grodd, W., & Rapp, A. M. (2007).
Neural correlates of metaphor processing in schizophrenia. Neuroim-
age, 34, 281–289.
Landa, R. J., & Goldberg, M. C. (2005). Language, social, and executive
functions in high functioning autism: a continuum of performance.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35, 557–573.
 J. Uekermann et al. / Brain and Cognition 67 (2008) 51–57
Lauro, L.J., Tettamanti, M., Cappa, & S.F., Papagno, C. (2007). Idiom
comprehension: A prefrontal task? Cerebral cortex, E-pub ahead of
print.
Lee, S. S., & Dapretto, M. (2006). Metaphorical vs literal word meanings:
fMRI evidence against a selective role of the right hemisphere.
Neuroimage, 29, 536–544.
Lienert, G. A., & Raatz, U. (1998). Testaufbau und Testanalyse (test
construction and test analyses). Weinheim: Beltz – PVU.
MacPherson, S. E., Phillips, L. H., & Della Sala, S. (2002). Age, executive
function, and social decision making: a dorsolateral prefrontal theory
of cognitive aging. Psychology and Aging, 17(4), 598–609.
Mashal, N., Faust, M., & Hendler, T. (2005). The role of the right
hemisphere in processing nonsalient metaphorical meanings: Applica-
tion of principal components analysis to fMRI data. Neuropsychologia,
43, 2084–2100.
Mashal, N., Faust, M., Hendler, T., & Jung-Beeman, M. (2007). An fMRI
investigation of the neural correlates underlying the processing of
novel metaphoric expressions. Brain and Language, 100, 115–126.
Milham, M. P., Erickson, K. I., Banich, M. T., Kramer, A. F., Webb, A.,
Wszalek, T., & Cohen, N. J. (2002). Attentional control in the aging
brain: insights from an fMRI study of the Stroop task. Brain and
Cognition, 49(3), 277–296.
Mitchell, R. L., & Crow, T. J. (2005). Right hemisphere language
functions and schizophrenia: The forgotten hemisphere? Brain, 128,
963–978.
Monetta, L., & Pell, M. D. (2007). Effects of verbal working memory
deficits on metaphor comprehension in patients with Parkinson’s
disease. Brain and Language, 101, 80–89.
Moran, C. A., Gillon, G. T., & Nippold, M. A. (2006). Working memory
and proverb comprehension in adolescences with traumatic brain
injury: A preliminary investigation. Brain Injury, 20, 417–423.
Nippold, M. A., Martin, S. A., & Erskine, B. J. (1988). Proverb
comprehension in context: A developmental study with children and
adolescents. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 31, 19–28.
Nippold, M. A., & Martin, S. T. (1989). Idiom interpretation in isolation
versus context: A developmental study with adolescents. Journal of
Speech and Hearing Research, 32, 59–66.
Nippold, M. A., Uhden, L. D., & Schwarz, I. E. (1997). Proverb
explanation through the lifespan: A developmental study of adoles-
cents and adults. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research,
40, 245–253.
Papagno, C., Lucchelli, F., Muggia, S., & Rizzo, S. (2003). Idiom
comprehension in Alzheimer’s disease: The role of the central
executive. Brain, 126, 2419–2430.
Papagno, C., Tabossi, P., Colombo, M. R., & Zampetti, P. (2004).
Idiom comprehension in aphasic patients. Brain and Language, 89,
226–234.
Paul, L. K., Lancker-Sidtis, D., Schieffer, B., Dietrich, R., & Brown, W. S.
(2003). Communicative deficits in agenesis of the corpus callosum:
Nonliteral language and affective prosody. Brain and Language, 85,
313–324.
Rajendran, G., Mitchell, P., & Rickards, H. (2005). How do individuals
with Asperger syndrome respond to nonliteral language and inappro-
priate requests in computer-mediated communication? Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35, 429–443.
57
Rapp, A. M., Leube, D. T., Erb, M., Grodd, W., & Kircher, T. T. (2004).
Neural correlates of metaphor processing. Brain Research Cognitive
Brain Research, 20, 395–402.
Rapp, A. M., Leube, D. T., Erb, M., Grodd, W., & Kircher, T. T. (2007).
Laterality in metaphor processing: Lack of evidence from functional
magnetic resonance imaging for the right hemisphere theory. Brain and
Language, 100, 142–149.
Reitan, R. (1992). Trail making test (adult version). USA: Reitan
Neuropsychology Laboratory.
Royall, D. R., Lauterbach, E. C., Cummings, J. L., Reeve, A., Rummans, T.
A., Kaufer, D. I., et al. (2002). Executive control function: a review of its
promise and challenges for clinical research A report from the
Committee on Research of the American Neuropsychiatric Association.
Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 14, 377–405.
Sotillo, M., Carretie, L., Hinojosa, J. A., Tapia, M., Mercado, F., Lopez-
Martin, S., et al. (2005). Neural activity associated with metaphor
comprehension: Spatial analysis. Neuroscience Letters, 373, 5–9.
Sponheim, S. R., Surerus-Johnson, C., Leskela, J., & Dieperink, M. E.
(2003). Proverb interpretation in schizophrenia: The significance of
symptomatology and cognitive processes. Schizophrenia Research, 65,
117–123.
Strandburg, R. J., Marsh, J. T., Brown, W. S., Asarnow, R. F., Guthrie,
D., & Higa, J. (1993). Event-related potentials in high-functioning
adult autistics: Linguistic and nonlinguistic visual information pro-
cessing tasks. Neuropsychologia, 31, 413–434.
Thoma, P., & Daum, I. (2006). Neurocognitive mechanisms of figurative
language processing-evidence from clinical dysfunctions. Neuroscience
and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 1182–1205.
Thompson-Schill, S. L., Jonides, J., Marshuetz, C., Smith, E. E.,
D’Esposito, M., Kan, I. P., et al. (2002). Effects of frontal lobe
damage on interference effects in working memory. Cognitive, Affec-
tive, and Behavioural Neuroscience, 2(2), 109–120.
Tisserand, D. J., & Jolles, J. (2003). On the involvement of prefrontal
networks in cognitive aging. Cortex, 39, 1107–1128.
Tisserand, D. J., Pruessner, J. C., Sanz Arigita, E. J., van Boxtel, M. P.,
Evans, A. C., Jolles, J., et al. (2002). Regional frontal cortical volumes
decrease differentially in aging: An MRI study to compare volumetric
approaches and voxel-based morphometry. Neuroimage, 17(2),
657–669.
Treitz, F. H., Heyder, K., & Daum, I. (2007). Differential course of
executive control changes during normal aging. Neuropsychology,
Development and Cognition. Section B: Aging Neuropsychology and
Cognition, 14, 370–393.
Varga, A.C. (1984). Declaration of Helsinki. Adopted by the 18th world
medical assembly in Helsinki, Finland, and revised by the 29th world
assembly in Tokyo, 1975. In: The main issue in bioethics, revised
edition. New York: Paulist Press.
Wang, G. J., Volkow, N. D., Logan, J., Fowler, J. S., Schlyer, D.,
MacGregor, R. R., et al. (1995). Evaluation of age-related changes in
serotonin 5-HT2 and dopamine D2 receptor availability in healthy
human participants. Life Sciences, 56, 249–253.
Wechsler, D. (1981). The Wechsler adult intelligence scale—revised. San
Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.
West, R., & Covell, E. (2001). Effects of aging on event related neural
activity related to prospective memory. Neuroreport, 12, 2855–2858.