Problem solving as a function of abstract or concrete words

Two groups of undergraduates were required to verbally reorder previously memorized pairs of nouns to detect the underlying structural relationship or chain among certain memorized pairs. While the types of word chains were always structurally identical for the two groups, the groups differed as to whether the list of word pairs were concrete or abstract nouns. Subjects who received concrete words both memorized the pairs and solved the problems in less time than did subjects who received abstract word pairs. Superior performance was supposedly due to the differential effect of imaginai versus verbal encoding. Implications were discussed regarding both educational and psychological issues.