El objetivo de este estudio fue contrastar experimentalmente los supuestos básicos de la teoría de codificación dual (Paivio. 1971, 1986, 1991), del enfoque relacional-distintivo (Marschark, 1985 ; Marschark y Hunt, 1989) y de los modelos estructurales (Schwanenflugel y Shoben, 1983 ; de Groot, 1989) basándose en los factores que determinan el efecto de concreción sobre el recuerdo. Se realizaron cuatro experimentos. En los dos primeros, se manipularon la concreción del material y el tipo de recuerdo (recuerdo libre y con claves) en una tarea relacional de orientación semántica en condiciones de aprendizaje incidental. La variable concreción fue manipulada a nivel intrasujetos en el experimento 1 y a nivel intersujetos en el experimento 2. Los resultados mostraron una interacción concreción por tipo de recuerdo solo cuando aumentaba la probabilidad de acceder a la información relacional de forma vertical y horizontal (experimento 1). El experimento 3 analizo si la distintividad implica una codificación dual o, por el contrario, ha de interpretarse en función de variables estructurales de tipo perceptivo. Por ello, los sujetos fueron evaluados con recuerdo libre y con claves tras real
The aim of this study was to test experimentally the basic assumptions of the dual coding theory, the relational-distinctive framework, and the structural models on the basis of the factors governing the concreteness effect on recall. Four experiments were carried out. In the first two, the factors manipulated were the concreteness of material and the type of recall (free vs. cued recall), and the relational, semantic orienting task under incidental learning conditions was used. Concreteness was a within-subject variable in Experiment 1 and a between-subject variable in Experiment 2. Results showed an interaction of concreteness x recall type only when the probability of accesing relational information increased both vertically and horizontally (Exp. 1). Experiment 3 was intended to test whether distinctiveness stems from dual coding or, alternatively, from structural variables of a perceptual nature. To this end, subjects were tested in both free and cued-recall following a relational, phonetic orienting task with concrete and abstract words. Contrary to the assumptions of dual coding theory, a concreteness effect followed non-semantic processing. The role of relational information during the retrieval stage in the concreteness effect was investigated in Experiment 4. Results showed a concreteness effect even when the access to relational information had been cut off. Our general findings thus support the assumptions of both the relational-distinctive framework and the structural hypothesis of perceptual associates, while they raise serious doubts about the dual coding theory and the contextual availability model. Therefore, we conclude that concreteness effects on recall occur regardless of the processing level (semantic vs. phonetic), and of the type of retrieval cues (within- vs. extra-list) used.