Imaginal and Verbal Mediation Instructions and Stimulus Attributes in Paired-Associate Learning

Abstract

The effects of instructions to mediate during learning were investigated. 10 pairs of concrete or abstract nouns were presented aurally for 5 recall trials to 160 Ss. The pairs were learned under one of four instructional sets: (a) verbal, i.e., “make up a phrase including the pairs,” (b) imaginal, i.e., “make mental pictures of the pairs,” (c) verbal-imaginal, i.e., both verbal and imaginal sets were given, and (d) control (no set). The results showed that concrete pairs were better recalled than abstract; instructions to mediate facilitated learning; there was no difference among set conditions for concrete words but for abstract words the verbal set compared to the imaginal set and the control significantly facilitated learning. According to retrospective reports taken in post-session interview, Ss, in general, used imaginal mediators for learning of concrete nouns and verbal mediators for abstract nouns.