Sadoski, M., Goetz, E. T., & Avila, E. (1995). Concreteness effects in text recall: Dual coding or context availability? Reading Research Quarterly, 30(2), 278-288.

Sadoski, M.; Goetz, E.; Avila, E.

1995

Sadoski, M., Goetz, E. T., & Avila, E. (1995). Concreteness effects in text recall: Dual coding or context availability? Reading Research Quarterly, 30(2), 278-288.

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This study investigated two alternative theoretical explanations for the effect of concreteness on text recall: dual coding and context availability. Studies by Marschark (1985) and Ransdell and Fischer (1989) have been cited as support for the context availability view but these studies produced mixed results regarding concreteness effects in the free recall of fictitious biographical paragraphs. The present study extended this research by using (a) different materials adapted from naturally occurring texts about actual historical figures, (b) ratings for familiarity, and (c) more stringent experimental controls. Subjects were undergraduate students: 40 in Experiment 1 (between-subjects design) and 24 in Experiment 2 (within-subject design). Results indicated concreteness effects in both experiments. An interaction of concreteness and paragraph, interpreted in the light of differences in familiarity ratings for the historical figures, suggested separate contributions of familiarity and concreteness to recall. Results are interpreted as favoring a dual coding theory explanation. Implications for text design are discussed.

A within-subject concreteness effect favoring the recall of concrete paragraphs was found. This finding concurs with the results of Ransdell and Fischler (1989, experiment 1), using similar procedures. The interaction of concreteness order by historical figure order specifies whether subjects received the concrete Michelangelo passage and the abstract Madison passage or the concrete Madison passage and the abstract Michelangelo passage.

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