A Comparative Study on the Concrete and Abstract Dimensions of Memory in School Students

One cannot imagine life without memory. No one can have an identity without it. Without memory we would live forever in present moment with no recollection of our past, including experiences and people that are important to us and no anticipation of future. Memory is crucial for all but there is no other time during which memory demands are greater than the school years. The aim of the study is to compare the concrete and abstract dimensions of memory among students. All learning materials presented to students come under either concrete or abstract form. It is very important to find out whether different age groups have same or different ability in recall of learning material, concrete as well as abstract. Study includes 144 students, 72 boys and 72 girls from three different age groups i.e. 9 to 11 years; 12 and 13years and 14 and 15years. A list of concrete and abstract words was used as a tool for each age group. The statistical calculations include mean, standard deviation and t-test. The study concludes• That concrete words are recalled significantly better than the abstract words. Concrete words are coded in our imagery system as well as in our verbal system where as abstract words are coded in our verbal system. This dual coding account for better learning of concrete learning materials than abstract learning materials.• There is no difference in recall of concrete or abstract words by both boys and girls.• Further it was also found that subjects of oldest age group had higher recall of both concrete as well as abstract words than the other two younger age groups.