The Effect of Age and Gender on the Understanding of Embodied Metaphors in the Concrete Operational Stage: a Study on Persian Children

In this research, we investigated the effect of age and gender on the understanding of embodied metaphors in the concrete operational stage in Persian children.Based on two experimental tests (a visual test and an auditory test), we evaluated the development of children's understanding of embodied metaphors in the transition from8 to 12 years of age and examined the role of gender in each of these two ages.The results showed that children in this stage of cognitive development experience significant growth in the understanding of embodied metaphors. The results also showed that although there is no significant difference between girls and boys, 11 years old girls perform better than the corresponding boys in the tasks. The results suggest that during the concrete operational stage, children undergo separate cognitive development based on their genders, which reflects in their understandings of embodied metaphors. Keywords: embodied metaphors, concrete operational stage, cognitive development, gender, age, children development