In a paired-associate learning experiment employing 40 university students as Ss, the contribution of individual differences in arousal to short-and long-term retention was investigated using individual differences in salivary response to lemon juice stimulation as an index of arousal. Experimental Ss were pre-selected from 99 Ss on the basis of extreme arousal scores. The hypotheses were confirmed; low-arousal recall is greater than high-arousal recall on a test of short-term retention (p < .08) and high-arousal recall is greater than low-arousal recall on a test of long-term retention (p < .04).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BremerF.The neurophysiological problem of sleep. In DelafresnayeJ. F. (Ed.), Brain mechanisms and consciousness: a symposium. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1954. Pp. 137–162.
2.
CochranW. G.CoxG. M.Experimental designs. New York: Wiley, 1957.
3.
CorcoranD. W. J.The relation between introversion and salivation. American Journal of Psychology, 1964, 77, 298–300.
4.
EysenckH. J.Biological basis of personality. Springfield, Ill.: Thomas, 1967.
5.
EysenckS. B. G.EysenckH. J.Salivary response to lemon juice as a measure of introversion. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1967, 24, 1047–1053.
6.
FeatherB. W.Human salivary conditioning: A methodological study. In KimbleG. A. (Ed.), Foundations of conditioning and learning. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967. Pp. 117–143.
7.
HebbD. O.A textbook of psychology. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1958.
8.
HilgardE. R.Methods and procedures in the study of learning. In StevensS. S. (Ed.), Handbook of experimental psychology. New York: Wiley, 1951. Pp. 517–567.
9.
KaplanS.KaplanR.Arousal and memory: A comment. Psychonomic Science, 1968, 10, 291–292.
10.
KleinsmithL. J.KaplanS.Paired-associate learning as a function of arousal and interpolated interval. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1963, 65, 190–193.
11.
KleinsmithL. J.KaplanS.Interaction of arousal and recall interval in nonsense syllable paired-associate learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1964, 67, 124–126.
MartonM.UrbanI.An electroencephalographic investigation of individual differences in the process of conditioning. In Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Psychology. Amsterdam: North Holland, 1966. Pp. 106–109.
14.
RazranG.Conditioned responses: An experimental study and a theoretical analysis. Archives of Psychology, New York, 1935, 28, 1–124.
15.
RunquistW. N.Verbal behavior. In SidowskiJ. B. (Ed.), Experimental methods and instrumentation in psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. Pp. 487–540.
16.
SavageR. D.Electro-cerebral activity, extraversion and neuroticism. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1964, 110, 98–100.
17.
ShapiroS. S.WilksM. B.An analysis of variance test for normality (complete samples). Biometrika, 1965, 52, 591–611.
18.
SternbachR. A.Principles of psychophysiology: an introductory text and readings. New York: Academic Press, 1966.
WalkerE. L.TarteR. D.Memory storage as a function of arousal and time with homogeneous and heterogeneous lists. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1963, 2, 113–119.
