Abstract
The Ss who differed in imagery ability according to scores on a test battery were asked to generate mental images suggested by concrete and abstract stimulus words. Pupillary reactions were continuously photographed during the task. The results showed no significant effects attributable to imagery ability. Imaging to words was associated with dilation and maximum dilation occurred sooner when the stimulus was concrete than when it was abstract, but pupil size was relatively unaffected by abstractness. The findings suggest that pupillary response latency may be more sensitive than magnitude as an indicator of cognitive-task difficulty.
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1. This research was supported by grants APA-87 (to the first author) and APA-204 (to the second author) from the National Research Council of Canada as well as grants to both authors from the University of Western Ontario Research Fund.
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Paivio, A., Simpson, H.M. Magnitude and latency of the pupillary response during an imagery task as a function of stimulus abstractness and imagery ability. Psychon Sci 12, 45–46 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331181
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331181