Psychology ETDs

Publication Date

9-2-1975

Abstract

Major theorists, who adhere to a dual-process hypothesis of mediation, state that imaginal codings encode behaviors, but verbal codings are solely responsible for sequential processing. To test if imaginal-verbal or verbal-imaginal associations are formed, thirty male Ss were shown one of two counter-balanced motion pictures. The films presented a paired-associate learning task with modeled actions and their verb equivalent as the stimuli and two-digit number as the response terms. There were four groups of words and actions. For the Same group, actions and their verb equivalents were both paired with the same number. For the Different and Inverted groups, the actions and words were paired with different numbers. The Control group was composed of verbs with no action equivalents. The experiment used within-subject design. The results showed rates of learning to be significantly different, F (2, 58) = 28.55, p < .001, Sx- = .778. The Same group was superior to the Control group, which surpassed the Different and Inverted groups. Intrusion errors, anticipation or the response pair with the verb when the action is presented, and vice versa, were significant for both words, F (2, 58) = 25.58, p < .001, Sx- = .339, and actions, F (2, 58) = 23.51, p < .001, Sx- = .280. These results were interpreted as support for the hypotheses that actions, and their verb equivalents, are "concrete concepts," and that both imaginal-verbal and verbal-imaginal associations are formed in an observational learning situation. Imaginal associations, therefore, are shown to be as available for sequential processes as verbal ones.

Degree Name

Psychology

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Psychology

First Committee Member (Chair)

Sidney Rosenblum

Second Committee Member

Joseph Anthony Parsons

Third Committee Member

Henry Carleton Ellis

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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