The Use of Metaphor as a Science Communication Tool: Air Traffic Control for Your Brain

Abstract

Science is currently under-utilized as a tool for effective policy and program design. A key part of this research-to-practice gap lies in the ineffectiveness of current models of science translation. Drawing on theory and methods from anthropology and cognitive linguistics, this study explores the role of cultural models and metaphor in the practice of science communication and translation. Qualitative interviews and group sessions, along with quantitative framing experiments, were used to design and test the effectiveness of a set of explanatory metaphors in translating the science of executive function. Developmental and cognitive scientists typically define executive function as a multi-dimensional set of related abilities that include working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. The study finds one metaphor in particular—the brain's air traffic control system—to be effective in bridging gaps between expert and public understandings on this issue and in so doing improving the accessibility of scientific information to members of the public as they reason about public policy issues. Findings suggest both a specific tool that can be used in efforts to translate the science of executive function and a theory and methodology that can be employed to design and test metaphors as communication devices on other science and social issues.

Keywords:

• Science Communication
• Metaphor
• Cultural Models
• Translational Research
• Science and Public Policy

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted by the FrameWorks Institute and sponsored by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Since 1999, the FrameWorks Institute has been developing a theory and practice of evidence-based communications research that draws heavily from the cognitive sciences. Credit for a great deal of the thinking presented in this article goes to our colleagues at the Institute.

Notes

[1] The latter is also the title of an executive-function curriculum; see Diamond, Barnett, Thomas, and Munro (2007).

[2] Twenty of the informants were women and 16 men. Fifteen identified as Independent, 12 as Liberal or Democrat, and the remaining 9 as Conservative or Republican. Ten of the informants were under 25 years of age, 20 were between the ages of 25 and 50, and the remaining 6 were over 50 years of age.