The 4D model for metaphor is based on the 4D model for utterance comprehension in discourse called the Construction-Integration model (see 4D model). Utterances are seen as the input for building four related mental representations for the meaning of the utterance (Van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983):

• the surface text captures an utterance’s linguistic structures and functions; it includes how people represent polysemy, salience, and signalling
• the text base captures an utterance’s conceptual structures and functions; it includes how people represent conceptual polysemy
• the situation model captures an utterance’s referential structures and functions; it includes how people represent states of affairs that exhibit reference to elements from one or two domains
• the context model captures an utterance’s communicative structures and functions; it includes how people represent the language user’s intention to use a metaphor as a metaphor or not (with an alien perspective from a source-domain referent on a target domain)

Optional post-comprehension processes occur after the click of comprehension has taken place, when reference and intentions have been assigned in a good-enough way for the receiver. Post-comprehension processes include metaphor recognition, interpretation, and appreciation, and can be seen as a more encompassing form of metaphor understanding. This is a new model for metaphor comprehension which can account for lots of old evidence in new ways.