Stimulus and response concreteness, imagery, and temporal factors in paired-associate learning

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of recall rates (2:3-sec vs 2:5-sec vs 2:8-sec), length of between-trial intervals (none vs 10 sec vs 60 sec), and noun concreteness on paired-associate learning. Ss learned a list of concrete-concrete, concrete-abstract, abstract-concrete, and abstract-abstract nouns. The results indicated that concrete nouns, particularly on the stimulus side of pairs, facilitated recall. Intertrial intervals yielded no significant effect on recall. The failure to find significant differences attributable to recall rates was discussed in reference to a previous study which found differences in learning abstract and concrete noun stimuli as a function of duration of input or study intervals.