Conceptual Structure and Conceptual Tempo

Abstract

College students selected for extremes of concrete and abstract conceptual structure were given 4 visual information-processing tasks: Matching Familiar Figures, Design Recall test, Embedded-figures test, and a task requiring identification of familiar objects presented tachistoscopically at 1/100 sec. Schroder's theory of conceptual structure provided a basis for predicting that abstract Ss would proceed more reflectively on the tasks than would concrete Ss, i.e., abstract Ss were expected to show longer response times and a higher proportion of correct responses. Results showed little generality of either speed or accuracy over tasks, and no support for the conceptual structure hypothesis. Non-parametric analysis of over-all performance indicated that abstract Ss and males tended to be both faster and more accurate in visual tasks than concrete Ss and females, respectively.