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A new tool for measuring individual differences in conceptual structure

  • Author / Creator
    Gagliardi, Emilio
  • Implicit concept mapping (iCmap; Aidman & Egan, 1998), measures: (1) the complexity of conceptual activation, and (2) the degree to which integration is internally consistent. These characteristics describe aspects of both Dual Code theory (DCT; Paivio,1986) and of lexical meaning (Johnson-Laird, 1987). Within the DCT literature, two kinds of representations have been proposed, verbal and nonverbal, and in the case of concrete words both kinds of representations will be activated compared to abstract words, which only have a verbal representation. 40 Participants completed Experiment 1, which aimed to assess degree of conceptual change due to learning. The results revealed no change in performance. 120 Participants completed Experiment 2 with a modified task called, progressive concept mapping (proCmap). The results indicated that concrete nouns had greater consistency between trials relative to abstract nouns, whereas abstract nouns had greater complexity. These results provide confirmatory evidence that proCmap is sensitive to information associated with conceptual structure

  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Graduation date
    Spring 2010
  • Type of Item
    Thesis
  • Degree
    Master of Science
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/R34M6K
  • License
    This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.
  • Language
    English
  • Institution
    University of Alberta
  • Degree level
    Master's
  • Department
  • Supervisor / co-supervisor and their department(s)
  • Examining committee members and their departments
    • Gagne, Christina (Psychology)
    • Mos, Leendert (Psychology, Linguistics)
    • Boechler, Patricia (Educational Psychology)