Difficulty of learning a list of 12 CVC pairs increased monotonically as a function of number of list items (1, 3, 6, and 12) grouped together for simultaneous exposure. Contrary to expectation, the difficulty was not affected by locus of grouping, i.e., whether grouping occurred on the study part, test part, or on both parts of each trial. Subsequent free recall also failed to show significant differences between conditions. The over-all grouping decrement was interpreted in terms of a strengthening of multiple associations among list members.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ArcherE. J.A re-evaluation of the meaningfulness of all possible CVC trigrams. Psychol. Monogr., 1960, 74, No. 10 (Whole No. 497).
2.
BattigW. F.Evidence for coding processes in “rote” paired-associate learning. J. verb. Learn. verb. Behav., 1966, 5, 177–181.
3.
BattigW. F.BrackettH. R.Comparison of anticipation and recall methods in paired-associate learning. Psychol. Rep., 1961, 9, 59–65.
4.
BattigW. F.BrackettH. R.Transfer from verbal-discrimination to paired associate learning: II. Effects of intralist similarity, method, and percentage occurrence of response members. J. exp. Psychol., 1963, 65, 507–514.
5.
BehringD. W.ZaffyD. J.Study-test and anticipation methods in paired-associate learning of similar and non-similar lists. Psychol. Rep., 1965, 16, 1237–1241.
6.
BrownS. C.Interpair interference as a function of level of practice in paired-associate learning. J. exp. Psychol., 1964, 67, 316–323.
7.
BrownS. C.BrownP.Comparison of successive and simultaneous methods of pair presentation in paired-associate learning. Psychon. Sci., 1965, 2, 309–310.
8.
GaitoJ.Unequal intervals and unequal n in trend analyses. Psychol. Bull., 1965, 63, 125–127.
9.
McGeochJ. A.IrionA. L.The psychology of human learning. New York: Longmans, Green, 1952.
10.
RotbergI. C.Verbal paired-associate learning as a function of grouping similar stimuli or responses. J. exp. Psychol., 1964, 67, 298–299.
11.
TragashH. J.NewmanS. E.Serial position as a cue in learning: effects of pairing- and test-orders. Office of Naval Research Tech. Rep. No. 14, Contract Nonr 486 (08), 1965.
