The time needed to compare two symbols increases as the cognitive distance between them on the relevant dimension increases (symbolic distance effect). Furthermore, when subjects are told to choose either the larger or the smaller of two stimuli, the response time is shorter if the instruction is congruent with the overall size of the stimuli (semantic congruity effect). Three experiments were conducted to determine the locus of these effects in terms of a sequence of processing stages. The developmental aspects of these effects were also evaluated, as the subjects were from kindergarten, first grade, third grade, fifth grade, and college. By varying the visual quality of the stimulus in each experiment, it was determined that the distance effect resides in a comparison stage, whereas the congruity effect is an encoding phenomenon. Both distance and congruity effects were present at all grade levels, but they decreased in magnitude as grade increased. The results were interpreted relative to recent models of comparative judgments.When a subject is presented with two digits and asked to compare them, the speed and accuracy of the comparison is determined, in part, by the numerical difference between the digits (symbolic distance effect) and the relationship between the experimenter's instructions and the size of the digits (semantic congruity effect). The symbolic distance effect was first demonstrated by Moyer and Landauer (1967). They asked subjects to indicate which of two digits was larger and found that the time needed to respond was an inverse function of the difference between the numbers. This effect has been replicated consistently with adults (e.g., Banks,

No abstract

Young and elderly adults were required to generate or study synonyms or rhymes of stimulus words. In one experiment, multiple-trial free recall was used to assess possible developmental differences in the generation effect, a 48-hr delayed recognition task was used in the second experiment. There was a significant generation effect for young and old adults on both retention tasks. The effect, however, did not emerge for the elderly participants in free recall until the second or third trial. The implications of utilizing internal stimulus generation as a potent mnemonic device were discussed.

No abstract

No abstract