Philosophers of language have long debated whether metaphorical expressions function primarily as decorative linguistic tropes or as indispensable cognitive structures. [Sentence 1] In a seminal 1980 treatise, cognitive linguists argued that metaphors structure our conceptual systems by mapping features from a familiar domain onto an abstract target domain. [Sentence 2] Critics of this conceptual mapping hypothesis maintain that such structural alignments are merely retrospective rationalizations devised by listeners rather than active frameworks guiding real-time comprehension. [Sentence 3] However, recent psycholinguistic experiments demonstrated that subjects processing abstract temporal statements exhibited measurably slower reaction times when exposed to incongruent spatial primes. [Sentence 4] Because spatial priming systematically modulates the latency of temporal reasoning, conceptual mapping must operate prior to or during initial sentence encoding rather than as a post hoc interpretation. [Sentence 5] Nonetheless, skeptics note that spatial priming effects diminish when subjects are explicitly trained to attend to non-spatial features, suggesting that the observed cognitive mapping may be context-dependent rather than structurally inherent.
Which sentence in the passage presents the experimental evidence introduced to counter the critics' claim regarding real-time comprehension?
Answer: However, recent psycholinguistic experiments demonstrated that subjects processing abstract temporal statements exhibited measurably slower reaction times when exposed to incongruent spatial primes. / Sentence 3 / recent psycholinguistic experiments demonstrated that subjects processing abstract temporal statements exhibited measurably slower reaction times when exposed to incongruent spatial primes. / Sentence 3: However, recent psycholinguistic experiments demonstrated that subjects processing abstract temporal statements exhibited measurably slower reaction times when exposed to incongruent spatial primes.