Abstract: The present study included three experiments. In the first experiment,the semantic processing time of metaphor was compared with that of catego-ry sentences in the condition of mixed presentation. The result indicatedthat the RT of high comprehensible metaphor was not longer than that of ca-tegory sentences. In the second experiment, they were again compared under the condition of grouping presentation with similar results. These two expe-riments also indicated that there was no inevitable relationship between theconnection level of category concepts and the semantic processing time.In thethird experiment, the priming effect of metaphor on the three kinds of con-cepts was compared, the result indicated that metaphor had obvious primingeffect on its semantic feature concept. Based on the results of the three ex-periments, a new semantic network model named feature connection modelwas suggested.

Key words: metaphor, category sentence, semantic network, feature connection