Individual differences and task format in sentence verification

Abstract

This study examined the effects of task format and individual differences in cognitive ability on performance of the sentence-picture verification task. Four groups of subjects were selected on the basis of their scores on psychometric tests of verbal and spatial ability: low verbal/low spatial, high verbal/high spatial, low verbal/high spatial, and high verbal/low spatial. Subjects completed four different versions of the sentence verification task, each version differing in terms of the interval between sentence and picture presentation. The results confirmed the importance of both task format and spatial ability in determining the cognitive strategy employed by subjects in carrying out the task. The finding of principal interest, however, was that spatial ability was the most significant determinant of strategy choice, and that low spatial subjects made substantial use of linguistic strategies under task formats designed to encourage imaginal strategies.