Effects of Glycemic Alterations and Noun Imagery on the Learning of Paired Associates

Abstract

The hypotheses that high blood glucose levels wauld,facilitate learning and that recall would be superior for high imagery nouns, were tested using 36, 71 th grade students of both sexes. Subjects learned a paired-associate list with equal numbers of pairs in each list rated as high- or low-imagery. A 2 x 2 factorial design was used, with one half of the subjects tested in a low (<80 mg/100cc blood glucose condition, and one half of the subjects tested in a high (>130 mg/100cc blood glucose condition. The results supported the hypothesis that high-imagery nouns are more easily learned than low-imagery nouns. Subjects with high blood glucose levels showed significantly superior recall in both high- and low-imagery pairs. Implicutions of blood glucose levels for learning were discussed.

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