Marschark M, Surian L
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 27412.
Mem Cognit. 1992 Nov;20(6):612-20. doi: 10.3758/bf03202711.
Two experiments reevaluated the possible role of mental imagery in free recall of concrete and abstract words. In Experiment 1, the number and rate of list presentations were manipulated. Incidental recall following an imagery rating task yielded reliable concreteness effects after two presentations but not after a single presentation, regardless of presentation rate. In Experiment 2, we examined the effects of relational (categorization) and item-specific (imagery rating) processing tasks on memory for categorically related or unrelated concrete and abstract words. Concreteness effects were obtained when unrelated words were sorted into categories but not when they were rated on imagery. Related words failed to yield concreteness effects under any orienting condition. The results support the view that the presence or absence of concreteness effects in free recall depends on the relative salience of distinctive and relational information. This conclusion constrains theoretical explanations of the role of mental imagery in memory and cognition.
两项实验重新评估了心理意象在具体词汇和抽象词汇自由回忆中可能发挥的作用。在实验1中，对列表呈现的次数和速度进行了操控。在一项意象评级任务后的附带回忆中，无论呈现速度如何，两次呈现后都产生了可靠的具体性效应，但单次呈现后则未产生。在实验2中，我们研究了关系性（分类）和特定项目（意象评级）加工任务对分类相关或不相关的具体词汇和抽象词汇记忆的影响。当不相关词汇被分类时获得了具体性效应，但对其进行意象评级时则未获得。在任何定向条件下，相关词汇都未产生具体性效应。结果支持了这样一种观点，即自由回忆中具体性效应的存在与否取决于独特信息和关系性信息的相对显著性。这一结论限制了对心理意象在记忆和认知中作用的理论解释。
