In this article we present a detailed Dual Coding Theory (DCT) model of decoding. The DCT model reinterprets and subsumes The LaBerge and Samuels (1974) model of the reading process which has served well to account for decoding behaviors and the processes that underlie them. However, the LaBerge and Samuels model has had little to say about…

The effect of word concreteness and imagery on the production of written definitions was investigated using procedures designed to produce more generalizable results than previous investigations. A random sample of words was drawn from the Paivio, Yuille, and Madigan (1968) norms, and college undergraduates were presented with a randomly selected,…

We investigated the evocation of mental imagery and affect in English/French bilinguals to determine whether the linguistic demands of reading in a second language (L2) limit readers' ability to form non-verbal text representations of literary stories. The participants were 26 Grade 11 French immersion students enrolled in a Canadian high school.…

A theoretical perspective on acquiring sight vocabulary and developing meaningful vocabulary is presented. Dual Coding Theory assumes that cognition occurs in two independent but connected codes: a verbal code for language and a nonverbal code for mental imagery. The mixed research literature on using pictures in teaching sight vocabulary is…

Investigates the effects of word concreteness and either imagery, verbal, or control strategy instructions on the composition of written definitions. Reveals significant effects of word concreteness on several quantity and quality variables, but no significant effect of strategy instructions or interaction between concreteness and strategy…

Asserts that mental imagery and human imagination are not only involved in the composition process but are fundamental to it. Asserts also that imagination is central to all communication, especially sophisticated use of language. Argues that imagination is the basis of concept of persona and perhaps of all rhetoric. Discusses imagery in modern…

Investigates the spontaneous use of imagery and its relationship to free verbal recall. Finds that separate categories of imagery and verbal recall reports are not highly correlated. Finds that imagery did not decline after 48 hours, but that verbal recall declined. Suggests that a strict levels-of-processing view may be untenable for ecologically…

Examines recall of three feature articles by rating paragraphs according to degree of mental imagery evoked, affect evoked, and importance of the article as a whole. Finds that readers are more likely to remember content that is subjectively important than content viewed as objectively important. (KEH)

The comprehensibility, interestingness, familiarity, and memorability of concrete and abstract instructional texts were studied in 4 experiments involving 221 college students. Results indicate that concreteness (ease of imagery) is the variable overwhelmingly most related to comprehensibility and recall. Dual coding theory and schema theory are…

The spontaneous use of imaging and its relationships to verbal recall and literary analysis were investigated in a study in which 72 college students read a literary text under one of three sets of instructions that manipulated processing depth in an externally valid fashion. Imagery reports and free verbal recalls of the story were collected…

Investigates patterns in readers' ratings of imagery, affect, and story structure in selected short stories read in a college classroom. Concludes that texts constrain the renditions of individual readers when they read for enjoyment. Finds that imagery appears to mediate affective associations of text viewed as structurally important. (MM)