Rate of Learning and Associative Inhibition

Abstract

Previous studies suggest that susceptibility to associative inhibition may vary inversely with learning speed. To investigate differential effects of interference, fast and slow Ss learned a list of paired adjectives to a common performance criterion. Experimental groups recalled under interference conditions produced by the interspersing of new items in the recall list. Interference occurred both when Ss were instructed to learn the new items while recalling those previously learned and also when Ss were instructed to attend only to previously learned items. Mean recall scores for experimental Ss were significantly inferior to those of a control group. Slow learners were more adversely affected by interference than fast learners.