The role of imagery in the evaluation of sentences☆
Abstract
Reaction time was the dependent variable in this sentence verification experiment. Simple sentences, which were either true or false, were constructed such that in some cases it was easy to form an image of the sentence, and in other cases forming an image was difficult. Ss' ratings were employed to select low- and high-imagery sentences. It was found that high-imagery sentences could be verified more rapidly than low-imagery sentences. Instructions which did not mention imagery were given to some Ss while others were specifically asked to employ imagery, but the reaction times of these two groups of Ss did not differ. It was concluded that imagery facilitates the process of sentence verification and that models of this process which restrict themselves to purely semantic operations are incomplete.
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Cited by (31)
Evaluating the vividness of mental imagery in different French samples
2008, Pratiques PsychologiquesLe but de cet article est d’évaluer la vivacité des images mentales sur trois populations différentes : un groupe d’étudiants/es (n = 48), un groupe d’experts en techniques reposant sur la modification des états de conscience (n = 24) et un groupe de danseurs/euses contemporains (n = 24). Il montre que le groupe d’experts utilisant les images mentales dans un état de vigilance basse a des scores de vivacité avec les yeux ouverts plus élevés que le groupe d’étudiants. La vivacité des images mentales pourrait représenter un trait cognitif qui permettrait de diminuer l’influence extéroceptive, favoriser une plus grande flexibilité mentale et faciliter l’intégration des suggestions hypnotiques. Une traduction et une adaptation française du questionnaire, le VVIQ [Br. J. Psychol. 64 (1973) 17–24], a été nécessaire pour notre étude, le VVIQ étant un questionnaire très utilisé, voire incontournable en psychologie cognitive et en psychopathologie clinique dans l’évaluation de la vivacité des images mentales.
The aim of this article is to evaluate the vividness of visual imagery from three different sample groups: a contemporary dance group (n = 24), a group of modified state of consciousness experts (n = 24) and a group of students (n = 48). We argue that the mental imagery activity into low vigilance level and into a modified state of consciousness has a closed link mechanism with vividness of visual imagery. We show that the modified state of consciousness experts reached a significantly higher level of vividness open-eyes score than the group of students. This could mean that higher open-eyes score is a cognitive trait of hypnotic susceptibility linked to specific training. These results stem from research into the close relationship between imagery and perception. We present a French adaptation and a French translation of Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire, too. The VVIQ [Br. J. Psychol. 64 (1973) 17–24] is a questionnaire very used in clinical psychology and in cognitive psychology.
Context availability and lexical decisions for abstract and concrete words
1988, Journal of Memory and LanguageThree experiments were performed to examine contrsting predictions of a dualrepresentation and context availability hypothesis for concreteness effects in lexical decision. In Experiment 1, equivalent lexical decision times were obtained for concrete and abstract words controlled for rated context availability, whereas longer lexical decision times were obtained for abstract words than for concrete words when the abstract words were rated lower in context availability. In a second lexical decision experiment using 365 words, rated context availability was a better predictor of lexical decision time than imagery and concreteness, familiarity, or age-of-acquisition ratings. The third experiment was a sentence context-lexical decision study in which benefits of context were examined for abstract and concrete words controlled on rated context availability and for abstract and concrete words where the abstract words were rated lower in context availability. Larger benefits of context were obtained for abstract words than for concrete words only when the abstract words were also rated low in context availability. These results are discussed as providing support for the context availability hypothesis of concreteness effects during lexical decision.
Representation of images in sentence verification
1985, Journal of Memory and LanguageFive reaction time sentence verification experiments were conducted in order to (1) investigate the source of interference between reading and visual imagery, (2) identify the sensory properties of the representation that are common to both reading and visual imagination, and (3) determine whether reading interferes with visual imagery during initial sentence comprehension or during subsequent sentence verification. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a visual representation, common to both reading and visual images, was the source of the interference observed. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that reading interferes with the spatial-like characteristics of a visual image. And finally, Experiments 4 and 5 offered evidence that imagery is not used in the initial determination of sentence meaning (comprehension). Together, the research presented offers evidence that the fundamental structure of many images is visuospatial, and that a visuospatial representation plays an overt role in the verification of many sentences.
Drawing inferences from concrete and abstract sentences
1982, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorA series of three studies employed a sentence verification task with pairs of concrete or abstract sentences. Each test sentence was either a paraphrase or an inference from its corresponding stimulus sentence. The results showed that concrete sentences are verified significantly faster than abstract sentences for both explicit (paraphrase) and implicit (inference) test items, and that paraphrases were verified more rapidly than inferences for both concrete and abstract sentences. There was no reliable interaction between the main effects of explicitness and imageability. These results appear to be consistent across instructional conditions, since they were replicated in Experiment 1 (with an imagery orienting task), Experiment 2 (with a verbal orienting task), and Experiment 3 (which compared both types of tasks). It was concluded that imageability facilitates processing speed for both explicit and implicit aspects of meaning to approximately the same degree.
Images and semantic representations
1982, Advances in PsychologyIn this chapter are summarized and discussed selected data from a research program on the relationships between imagery and semantic processing. Within the framework of a featural approach to conceptual representations, imagery is viewed as a constructive process that selectively applies to, and transiently actualizes, specific subsets of semantic features, the so-called figurative features.
Reading and listening to high and low imagery sentences
1981, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorFive reaction time experiments were performed to clarify the role that imagery plays in sentence understanding. In the first experiment, subjects had to decide whether visually presented sentences were true or false. Reading and verifying high-imagery sentences took longer than reading and verifying low-imagery sentences. This was true even though both types of sentences were equal in difficulty when auditorily presented. In Experiment 2, the words of each sentence were serially presented in order to make the reading presentation more like the listening presentation. Again, reading interfered more with the processing of high-imagery sentences than low-imagery sentences. Experiments 3 and 4 were identical to Experiments 1 and 2 except that a comprehension task was used instead of a verification task. Again, reading interfered more with the high- than the low-imagery sentences. However, in Experiment 5, when a grammatical judgment task was used, reading no longer interfered more with the high-imagery sentences. These results suggest that imagery plays a significant role in the comprehension of high-imagery sentences.
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This research was supported by Grant MH 15872 from the National Institute of Mental Health to W. K.