Context availability and lexical decisions for abstract and concrete words

Three experiments were performed to examine contrsting predictions of a dualrepresentation and context availability hypothesis for concreteness effects in lexical decision. In Experiment 1, equivalent lexical decision times were obtained for concrete and abstract words controlled for rated context availability, whereas longer lexical decision times were obtained for abstract words than for concrete words when the abstract words were rated lower in context availability. In a second lexical decision experiment using 365 words, rated context availability was a better predictor of lexical decision time than imagery and concreteness, familiarity, or age-of-acquisition ratings. The third experiment was a sentence context-lexical decision study in which benefits of context were examined for abstract and concrete words controlled on rated context availability and for abstract and concrete words where the abstract words were rated lower in context availability. Larger benefits of context were obtained for abstract words than for concrete words only when the abstract words were also rated low in context availability. These results are discussed as providing support for the context availability hypothesis of concreteness effects during lexical decision.