Imagery/Concreteness Attributes of Advance Organizers.
The purpose of this study was to examine the attributes of prose passages used in advance organizer studies on an imagery-concreteness scale. Phase I demonstrated significant differences in ratings between organizer, historical, and learning passages using a semantic differential type instrument. A principal components factor analysis of the scale provided evidence of a stable factor structure for the instrument across the three passages. Phase II demonstrated significant differences in retention for the organizer-learning passage combination but no differences when the three passages were examined alone. Results are discussed on the basis of Paivio’s two-process theory, and questions are raised about the role of advance organizers in learning and retention.