“Limited Capacity” Hypothesis in Incidental and Intentional Learning

Abstract

Murdock (1965) has proposed the “limited capacity” hypothesis for intentional learning, stating that Ss may have a limited capacity for immediate recall of material learned in a given amount of time, regardless of rate or number of presentations. This study investigates this phenomenon for both intentional and incidental learning. Ss, divided into six groups, learned nonsense syllables printed on different colored backgrounds at rates of 1, 2, and 4 sec. per item. The intentional groups were told to learn the syllables and their corresponding colors; the incidental groups were told only to learn the syllables. In spite of an apparent superiority of the 2-sec. interval, the data indicated that Murdock's hypothesis holds for both conditions of learning; no significant differences were found between the different presentation rates. However, an analysis of trend suggests that a curvilinear relationship may exist.