The ability to comprehend and use metaphor has been described as the kernel of creative thought. The development of this ability was assessed in 40 The ability to comprehend and use metaphor has been described as the kernel of creative thought. The development of this ability was assessed in 40 four-year-olds and 40 six-year-olds who were individually presented with a match-to-sample metaphor comprehension task comprising six different types of metaphorical relationships in both pictures and words (color, shape, physiognomic, cross-modal, psychological-physical, and taxonomic matches). Two hypotheses were tested: (a) that metaphorical understanding develops from a reliance on more biologically constrained categories to a dependence on more socially constrained ones, that is, in a two-stage process, and (b) that pictures would aid the understanding of metaphor over words in the younger groups given the relative ease of decoding iconic representations, with a reversal of this trend in the other groups because of the increasing use of language and influence of formal schooling. Results indicated that younger children did significantly better in the pictorial medium suggesting a picture superiority effect for more perceptible metaphorical relations (perceptual and physiognomic). Older children showed a word superiority effect for more conceptual metaphors (psychological-physical and taxonomic). It was suggested that adult creativity necessarily draws on both early metaphorical experiences as well as later appearing metaphorical insights that develop as a result of learning and the rejection of conventions. (Jay Seitz)