Effects of Pleasant and Unpleasant Verbal Stimuli upon Perceptual Learning in Young Children

Abstract

Children who were told pleasant stories about one part of an ambiguous figure were more likely to see that figure when it was paired with a second aspect that had previously been associated with an unpleasant story. The experiment was subsequently repeated using six experimenters, three who had been previously told that the children they tested would perceive the pleasant-associated figure, and three of whom had been told that children would perceive the negative-associated figure. Children tested by both groups of experimenters were more likely to see the positive-associated figure than the negative-associated figure.