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Abstract

Mean ratings and standard errors of ratings were obtained on four stimulus attributes of the meanings of 138 low-frequency relatively technical words. A group of 34 undergraduates rated the concreteness, imagery, comprehensibility, and complexity of the items. A second group of 22 undergraduates rated imagery, comprehensibility, and complexity. Within- and between-groups' measures of reliabilities exceeded .79. Test-retest reliabilities for a subsample of 25 items indicated negligible confounding of attributes ratings from rating other attributes in the same sitting. Imagery correlated highly (.714) with concreteness and comprehensibility (.743). Complexity was highly negatively correlated with comprehensibility (−.675) and moderately negatively correlated with imagery (−.408). Patterns of relationships among the variables were similar to those described by Paivio, et al. (1968) for familiar nouns and extend the documented viability of those relationships and the dual coding position to the more complex and educationally useful realm of meanings for technical vocabulary. The reported ratings of concreteness, imagery, and comprehensibility, in particular, have been shown to be important predictors of acquisition of technical vocabulary.

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Concreteness,Imagery,Comprehensibility,and Complexity Ratings for Technical Vocabulary

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