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This study tested the predictions of an automatic-imagery, strategic-imagery (SI), and context-availability (CTA) hypothesis of concreteness effects in free recall in 3 experiments with 256 undergraduates. Recall of abstract and concrete words controlled for rated CTA was compared with the typical situation in which CTA is confounded with imageability. In Exp 1, a directed intentional-recall task produced concreteness effects in recall. Exp 2 compared concreteness effects in recall following 3 orienting tasks: imagery rating, CTA rating, and a directed intentional-memory task. Concreteness effects in the CTA-controlled condition were found following the imagery-rating and the directed intentional-memory tasks. In Exp 3, ...

This study tested the predictions of an automatic-imagery, strategic-imagery (SI), and context-availability (CTA) hypothesis of concreteness effects in free recall in 3 experiments with 256 undergraduates. Recall of abstract and concrete words controlled for rated CTA was compared with the typical situation in which CTA is confounded with imageability. In Exp 1, a directed intentional-recall task produced concreteness effects in recall. Exp 2 compared concreteness effects in recall following 3 orienting tasks: imagery rating, CTA rating, and a directed intentional-memory task. Concreteness effects in the CTA-controlled condition were found following the imagery-rating and the directed intentional-memory tasks. In Exp 3, ...

A series of studies was conducted to examine whether vocabulary difficulty & prior knowledge interact in text comprehension, or whether a S with prior knowledge can use it to compensate for difficult vocabulary, or vice versa. Groups of sixth graders were pretaught either relevant or irrevelant information about an Amazonian tribe. They then read a passage from a fifth-grade textbook, either in the original or in a version with difficult synonyms inserted. In study 1 (N = 90), both vocabulary difficulty & preteaching affected free recall, but the two factors did not interact. Ss given the synonyms version recalled less ...

A series of studies was conducted to examine whether vocabulary difficulty & prior knowledge interact in text comprehension, or whether a S with prior knowledge can use it to compensate for difficult vocabulary, or vice versa. Groups of sixth graders were pretaught either relevant or irrevelant information about an Amazonian tribe. They then read a passage from a fifth-grade textbook, either in the original or in a version with difficult synonyms inserted. In study 1 (N = 90), both vocabulary difficulty & preteaching affected free recall, but the two factors did not interact. Ss given the synonyms version recalled less ...

A series of studies was conducted to examine whether vocabulary difficulty & prior knowledge interact in text comprehension, or whether a S with prior knowledge can use it to compensate for difficult vocabulary, or vice versa. Groups of sixth graders were pretaught either relevant or irrevelant information about an Amazonian tribe. They then read a passage from a fifth-grade textbook, either in the original or in a version with difficult synonyms inserted. In study 1 (N = 90), both vocabulary difficulty & preteaching affected free recall, but the two factors did not interact. Ss given the synonyms version recalled less ...

We examined whether different word displays also differ in terms of the format in which they are represented in memory. Undergraduates studied a text, an outline, a graphic organizer, or a concept map and then were shown either a verbal (digits) or spatial (dots) display. They were then tested on comprehension of the first display and recognition of the second display. Comprehending graphic organizers and concept maps interfered with the spatial concurrent task and vice versa, whereas the verbal concurrent task interfered with comprehension of texts and outlines. These results are consistent with the conjoint retention hypothesis suggesting that spatial ...

Three experiments investigated how 206 adult readers represent causal relations among events in a narrative. Models of text comprehension were tested. In each experiment Ss read brief narratives and received a speeded-recognition test of their memories for story events. Each story could be represented by a linear chain or by a network. On each trial in the recognition procedure Ss read a priming sentence that reminded them of either a story (general prime) or a specific event in a story (specific prime). Across the experiments, positive responses were faster when the target followed a specific prime that was causally related ...

Three experiments investigated how 206 adult readers represent causal relations among events in a narrative. Models of text comprehension were tested. In each experiment Ss read brief narratives and received a speeded-recognition test of their memories for story events. Each story could be represented by a linear chain or by a network. On each trial in the recognition procedure Ss read a priming sentence that reminded them of either a story (general prime) or a specific event in a story (specific prime). Across the experiments, positive responses were faster when the target followed a specific prime that was causally related ...

Although proximity between arguments and verbs (locality) is a relatively robust determinant of sentence-processing difficulty (Hawkins 1998, 2001, Gibson 2000), increasing argument-verb distance can also facilitate processing (Konieczny 2000). We present two self-paced reading (SPR) experiments involving Hindi that provide further evidence of antilocality, and a third SPR experiment which suggests that similarity-based interference can attenuate this distance-based facilitation. A unified explanation of interference, locality, and antilocality effects is proposed via an independently motivated theory of activation decay and retrieval interference (Anderson et al. 2004). ...

In three experiments, we investigated the optimal presentation of graphic organizers(GOs) and text by having undergraduates read a chapter-length text in its entirety, a few pages at a time, or a few sentences at a time, before or after viewing seven GOs in their entirety (large bites), one at a time (small bites), or one cell at a time (animated). Large bites were better than small bites for learning concept relations and applying that knowledge, and for recalling macropropositions when the GOs were presented before text. Animated GOs offered no advantages over the large-bites GOs at first presentation and considerably ...