Individual Differences in Ability to Image Nouns

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to identify individual differences variables which were significantly related to performance on a paired-associates task of noun imagery. In Exp. 1, a self-report measure, the Paivio Imagery Scale, significantly differentiated subjects who spontaneously employed imagery to remember noun pairs of medium imagery/medium concreteness from those who did not. Under instructions to use imagery, verbal ability but not self-reported habits of imagery was significantly related to performance for low imagery/low concrete pairs. In Exp. 2, the significant effects for verbal ability in Exp. 1 were replicated and extended to medium imagery/medium concrete words. In addition, neither spatial ability nor self-reported habits of imagery added significant increments to explained variability on the noun tasks after verbal ability had been entered into the predictive equation. It was concluded that the Paivio Imagery Scale was a measure of preference for strategy, not ability, and that ability to image nouns was an expression of verbal ability. The consistency of these results with theoretical proposals of Paivio (1971) was noted.