MetaClimage: A novel database of visual metaphors related to Climate Change, with costs and benefits analysis
Biagio Scalingi, Chiara Barattieri di San Pietro, Paolo Canal, Valentina Bambini

TL;DR
This paper introduces MetaClimage, a comprehensive database of climate change visual metaphors, analyzing their cognitive and emotional impacts, and highlighting their potential for enhancing environmental communication despite higher complexity.
Contribution
The study presents a new database of climate change metaphors with human ratings and NLP analysis, providing insights into their cognitive and aesthetic effects.
Findings
Visual metaphors are more aesthetically pleasing than literal images.
They are harder to understand but promote deeper cognitive engagement.
Metaphors elicit more positive valence and greater dominance in emotional response.
Abstract
Visual metaphors of climate change (e.g., melting glaciers depicted as a melting ice grenade) are regarded as valuable tools for addressing the complexity of environmental challenges. However, few studies have examined their impact on communication, also due to scattered availability of material. Here, we present a novel database of Metaphors of Climate Change in Images (MetaClimage) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15861012, paired with literal images and enriched with human ratings. For each image, we collected values of difficulty, efficacy, artistic quality, and emotional arousal from human rating, as well as number of tags generated by participants to summarize the message. Semantic and emotion variables were further derived from the tags via Natural Language Processing. Visual metaphors were rated as more difficult to understand, yet more aesthetically pleasant than literal images,…
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Taxonomy
TopicsLanguage, Metaphor, and Cognition · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Species Distribution and Climate Change
