Cognitive style variables in participants' explanations of conceptual metaphors

71 University students were first asked to explain three conceptual metaphors. Then the participants’ cognitive styles were classified into “analytic” or “holistic and “imager” or “verbaliser” by means of the Riding (1991) computer assisted test of cognitive styles. The results of the experiment revealed cognitive style variables in subjects’ preferred strategies to explain the metaphors: (a) “holistic thinkers” were more likely than “analytic” ones to blend their conception of the target domain with the source domain ; and (b) “imagers” were more likely than “verbalisers” to refer to stereotypical images to explain the metaphors.