Imagery ability, abstractness, and word order as variables in recall of adjectives and nouns

Abstract

Subjects, differing in imagery ability according to spatial reasoning tests, learned a paired-associate list consisting of noun-adjective pairs in either the adjective-noun or noun-adjective order. Equal numbers of pairs in each list were high or low in rated imagery. The results supported the hypothesis that noun imagery is a more critical determinant of paired-associate learning than adjective imagery, and that this effect is most pronounced in the stimulus rather than response element. High-imagery ability was shown in one interaction to be most influential in comparison to low-imagery ability for learning pairs that contained low imagery stimuli. These findings implied that imagery is a strong determinant of learning performance whether manipulated as a stimulus attribute or as an individual difference and that both have similar functions in processing information.