Tachistoscopic Word Recognition as a Function of Word Abstractness/Concreteness, Word Frequency, and IQ

Abstract

Tachistoscopic word-recognition thresholds for abstract and concrete words of high and low frequency of occurrence were measured for 15 college subjects of high and 15 of low IQ to determine if word abstractness/concreteness is a significant one among these variables. Results refuted previous investigations with thresholds for abstract words being greater than thresholds for concrete words. Also, thresholds for high frequency of occurrence words were lower than for words of low frequency. Subjects with high and low IQs did not have different recognition thresholds. Frequency and word abstractness/concreteness interacted. Possible explanations for these findings are outlined.