Table 2. Validated Stimuli: English translation.

Interpretation C+T	Context-sentences	Target-sentences	Evoked effector	T	F	A
Idiomatic	The thief realized that the alarm was sounding aloud in the building	He ran away	foot	3	4	80%
Literal	The sailor realized that the anchor was stuck in the seabed	He cut the rope	hand			85%
Idiomatic	The driver hit the gas pedal to be there in time	He exaggerated	foot	4	4	87%
Literal	The man pressed the top of the box to close it	He pressed the hand on it	hand			96%
Idiomatic	He didn't want his wife to see him there	He left	foot	3	4	75%
Literal	He didn't want that room to be so dark	He removed the curtains	hand			57%
Idiomatic	He decided to stand in front of that door	He set up camp there	foot	4	4	80%
Literal	He decided to put up his tent there for the night	He set up camp there	hand			67%
Idiomatic	The football player was still practising the same shot at the goal	He was insisting	foot	4	3	92%
Literal	The technician was fixing the “L” key on the keyboard	He kept beating on the same key	hand			95%
Idiomatic	He needed a partner for the dance contest and she volunteered	She gave him a hand	foot	4	5	70%
Literal	He needed to support to get up from the ground and she offered	She gave him a hand	hand			87%
Idiomatic	He was running the last metres to the finish line	It was within reach.	foot	4	4	86%
Literal	He was extending out his arm towards the cup on the table	It was within reach	hand			93%
Idiomatic	If she had passed by his desk he would have followed her	She had laid the bait	foot	3	4	59%
Literal	If she had fished from that pier she would have caught a lot of fishes	She had laid the bait	hand			95%
Idiomatic	The athlete was breaking his running record and he did not want to stop	He had to strike while the iron was hot	foot	4	4	86%
Literal	The blacksmith was hammering a white-hot sheet of iron and he did not want to stop	He had to strike while the iron was hot	hand			94%
Idiomatic	It was already dark and he had still many kilometres to walk in front of him	So he rolled up his sleeves	foot	4	4	76%
Literal	It was already hot and I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt	So he rolled up his sleeves	hand			99%
Idiomatic	The new contract was ready to be signed, after some uncertainty he decided	He signed it	hand	3	3	75%
Literal	The road was interrupted because of a pit, after some uncertainty he decided	He jumped over the moat	foot			92%
Idiomatic	There were awful dishes at dinner	She has done them with her feet	hand	3	4	81%
Literal	There were tracks on the sand	She has done them with her feet	foot			90%
Idiomatic	If she ripped up his documents she would have the promotion instead of him	She tripped him	hand	4	3	55%
Literal	If he made him fall down he would win the marathon instead of him	He tripped him	foot			98%
Idiomatic	It was the right time to offer him a handshake	Luca took the first step	hand	4	4	90%
Literal	It was the right time to try to walk by himself	Luca took the first step	foot			94%
Idiomatic	She signed the agreement herself and that made him upset	She stepped on his toes	hand	4	4	70%
Literal	He rubbed his foot against her leg again, so she reacted	She stepped on his toes	foot			97%
Idiomatic	The sign said that smoking was not allowed in that place	Paolo just walked all over it	hand	3	4	67%
Literal	The document fell onto the floor	Paolo just walked all over it	foot			73%
Idiomatic	The juggler presented himself to the audience	It was the time for him to start doing his games	hand	4	4	36%
Literal	The football player played his first match	It was the time for him to enter the field	foot			92%
Idiomatic	The recipe was very difficult	He stopped at almost every single step	hand	3	3	87%
Literal	The path that he took to the village was full of obstacles	He stopped at almost every single step	foot			95%
Idiomatic	The painter needed to do the last brush strokes on the painting	The finish line was in sight	hand	4	4	90%
Literal	The athlete needed to do the last steps towards the goal	The finish line was in sight	foot			97%
Idiomatic	The surgeon was at a difficult and dangerous stage of the surgery	He was taking a treacherous road	hand	4	3	82%
Literal	The hiker was on a difficult and dangerous path	He was taking a treacherous road	foot			91%

English translation of stimuli. T = Transparency; F = Familiarity; A = Accuracy.

The literal translation of idioms from one language to another is not always possible because not always there is a direct correspondence between idiomatic expressions of different languages. Because the idioms in our experiment are ambiguous, their literal translation is always possible when they are used as literal sentences. However, when they are used as figurative sentences, is not always possible to translate them word by word. For this reason, when a correspondent idiom was not found in English, we decided to translate idioms in figurative sentences according to their inferential meaning. Target sentences in italic are the literal translations of Italian ambiguous idioms used as literal sentences. Target sentences in bold are the translations of Italian ambiguous idioms used as idiomatic sentences.

Italian stimuli where balanced on the basis of number of syllables, grammatical structure, verbal time, length of the sentence. This was not always possible in the English translation.