Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Shoben, E. J. (1983). Differential context effects in the comprehension of abstract and concrete verbal materials. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 9(1), 82-102.

Schwanenflugel, P.; Shoben, E.

1983

Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Shoben, E. J. (1983). Differential context effects in the comprehension of abstract and concrete verbal materials. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 9(1), 82-102.

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This study conducted 3 experiments to test contrasting predictions of a dual-representation theory and a context availability model of concreteness effects in verbal processing. In Exp I, abstract and concrete sentences with and without a paragraph context were presented to 67 undergraduates. Without context, Ss took longer to read abstract sentences than concrete sentences. With context, the reading times did not differ. A similar result was observed in Exp II with 41 Ss, in which lexical decision times were measured for abstract and concrete words. In the absence of context, lexical decision times for abstract words were longer than for concrete words. With a sentence context, however, the lexical decision times for these 2 word types were equivalent. A subsequent rating experiment, with 22 Ss, indicated that rated context availability was a good predictor of RT in both experiments. Results support the context availability model.

In isolation, it took longer to comprehend abstract sentences than concrete sentences. However, when context was provided, this comprehension time difference disappeared.

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