Schwanenflugel, P. J., Akin, C., & Luh, W. (1992). Context availability and the recall of abstract and concrete words. Memory & Cognition, 20(1), 96-104.
Schwanenflugel, P.; Akin, C.; Luh, W.
1992
Schwanenflugel, P. J., Akin, C., & Luh, W. (1992). Context availability and the recall of abstract and concrete words. Memory & Cognition, 20(1), 96-104.
2
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, Ss reported the strategies used to encode the list. Ss reporting showed concreteness effects for words controlled for rated CTA. An SI view of concreteness effects in free recall is supported.
In sum, experiment 2 provided us with some important results for deciding among hypothesis of concreteness effects. First, when persons were forced to concentrate on retrieving prior contextual knowledge rather than imagery through rating context availability, recall differences disappeared for abstract and concrete words equated a priori on this factor. On the other hand, when persons were asked to retrieve imagery information through their ratings of imagery, the usual superiority of concrete words over abstract words resurfaced. Also, that concreteness effect in intentional recall did not differ from those in the imagery-rating task suggests that imagery may have been used by subjects to encode the lists when no particular encoding instructions were given.
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