Incorporating quantitative information into a linear ordering

Ss were required to learn linear orderings of four terms (A > B > C > D). Each pair of terms was described as being either "just barely," "moderately," or "very much" different on some meaningful dimension. Two distinct strategies for coding this information were observed. Some Ss varied the spacing of the terms along some continuum (e.g., A_B___C_____D), while others spaced the terms evenly along a continuum and inserted verbal tags to represent the quantitative information (e.g., A just barely B moderately C very much D). The former strategy was consistently found to be superior. Performance did not vary as a function of the quantitative difference between the terms.