Classification Learning of Items Grouped on the Basis of Degree of Prior Learning

Abstract

Contrary to expectation, no facilitation of classification (CI) learning was produced if all four items (common 4-letter words) to be associated with the same number response were presented the same number of times during a prior free-recall learning task (FL), as compared with an ungrouped condition where each such item was presented a different number of times during FL. Both were superior to a control condition given FL with Easy (1-digit) number responses but not with Hard (2-digit) numbers, where CI performance became degraded if items presented equal numbers of times during FL were selected by E rather than being based on actual learning difficulty for S. These results indicate substantial and unexpected differences between free and classification learning involving common words.