ABILITY DIFFERENCES AND PROSE LEARNING

Two experiments examined the relationship between spatial, imagery, and verbal ability and the multitrial free recall of brief prose passages. The prose passages, varying in concreteness, were presented at a slow or fast rate of presentation. Correlational and multiple-regression analyses in Experiment 1 revealed that spatial-imagery ability significantly predicted prose recall, particularly when concrete prose was presented quickly. In Experiment 2, where a mixed factorial design was used, different interaction patterns involving spatial-imagery and verbal ability emerged. In both experiments, intrusion errors were predicted by spatial-imagery but not verbal ability. The results are interpreted in the context of different psychological mechanisms underlying individual differences in spatial and verbal ability.