Acquisition of Morphological Rules: Effects of Frequency of Item-Type and Rehearsal Strategy in Paired-Associate Learning

Abstract

Paired-associate items which followed an association rule were presented in a mixed list with a smaller number of irregular items which deviated from the rule but were presented for study more frequently. On test lists new stimulus items were presented for which the correct response followed the rule. In learning the items 30 subjects were instructed to use either maintenance rehearsal or elaborative operations. The prediction that the elaboration strategy would facilitate performance was confirmed. However, the expectation that maintenance rehearsal would produce equal ease of learning on irregular items was not upheld. All subjects performed best on irregular items, probably because they were more frequently presented and contained unusual response elements which may have stood out.