For people to understand metaphors that require the creation of associations between remote concepts, both the diffuse spread of activation in semantic networks in the right hemisphere (coarse semantic coding) and the tight and focused spread of activation in the left hemisphere (fine semantic coding) are required. During adolescence, the dynamic between the left and right hemispheres that enables the processing of metaphors is not yet established. Thus, the present study aimed to (1) test whether left-hand muscle contractions that activate the right hemisphere's sensory-motor regions can boost metaphor comprehension in adolescents; (2) compare conventional and novel metaphor processing (with no muscle contractions) in adolescents and adults. For the first goal, 83 adolescents between the ages of 14–16 squeezed a rubber ball with either their right hands, left hands, or not at all (control group) while presented with two-word expressions of four types: literal expressions, conventional metaphors, novel metaphors, and unrelated expressions. Results showed that left-hand muscle contractions led to more accurate processing of literal expressions and conventional and novel metaphors. However, the over-activation of the right hemisphere led to a decreased ability to process unrelated expressions. For the second goal, the adolescent control group was compared with an adult group of participants. Results revealed that despite a general disadvantage in language processing (including conventional metaphors), adolescents were more accurate in processing novel metaphors. Our findings suggest that adolescents' left lateralization for language is not yet established, resulting in over-reliance on coarse semantic coding. In addition, our results demonstrate the effectiveness of a simple, non-invasive technique for enhancing metaphor comprehension in adolescents. This technique may especially benefit adolescents who struggle with metaphor comprehension, such as adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders or with poor social skills.

为了让人们理解隐喻，需要在远程概念之间建立关联，无论是右半球语义网络中激活的扩散传播（粗略语义编码）和左半球的紧密而集中的激活扩散（精细语义编码）是必需的。在青春期，左右半球之间能够处理隐喻的动态尚未建立。因此，本研究的目的是（1）测试激活右半球感觉运动区域的左手肌肉收缩是否可以提高青少年的隐喻理解能力；(2) 比较青少年和成人的传统隐喻处理和新颖隐喻处理（无肌肉收缩）。对于第一个目标，83 名 14 至 16 岁的青少年用右手、左手或根本不挤压橡皮球（对照组），同时呈现四种类型的两个词表达：文字表达、常规表达隐喻，新颖的隐喻，以及不相关的表达。结果表明，左手肌肉收缩可以更准确地处理文字表达以及传统和新颖的隐喻。然而，右半球的过度激活导致处理不相关表达的能力下降。对于第二个目标，将青少年对照组与成人参与者组进行比较。结果显示，尽管青少年在语言处理（包括传统隐喻）方面普遍处于劣势，但在处理新隐喻方面更为准确。我们的研究结果表明，青少年的语言左偏化尚未建立，导致过度依赖粗略的语义编码。此外，我们的结果证明了一种简单、非侵入性技术对于增强青少年隐喻理解的有效性。