Noun imagery and frequency in paired-associate and free-recall learning.

Investigates the effects of rated imagery (I) and Thorndike-Lorge frequency (F) of nouns in paired-associate (PA) and free-recall (FR) learning. In the PA task, I and F were factorially varied on the stimulus and response sides of 16-pair mixed lists. Ss (77 male high school graduates) had 4 PA study and recall trials with each of 2 such lists. In agreement with previous findings, I was strongly related to learning, more so on the stimulus than on the response side of pairs. Weaker effects of F were positive on the response side but negative on the stimulus side under certain combinations of stimulus and response I revealed by interaction effects. The FR task involved factorial variation of I and F in 32-item lists. 52 undergraduates were presented 10 trials with 2 such lists. Recall was consistently better for high-I than for low-I nouns. Frequency had a consistent positive effect when the nouns were high in I, but its effect was negative on early trials when the nouns were abstract. I and F therefore were clearly differentiated empirically in both tasks. Findings are discussed in terms of such factors as stimulus-evoked mediating imagery and response availability. (French summary) (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of meaningfulness on child free-recall learning.

Investigated the effects of experience (age) and stimulus meaningfulness on free-recall learning. In Study 1, meaningfulness values, assessed via the production method, were obtained on 40 trigrams for 120 kindergarten, second- and 6th-grade children. Employing these norms in a subsequent free-recall learning study (Study 2), it was found that trials to criterion and grade level were positively related when meaningfulness was free to vary in the same list stimuli. However, trials-to-criterion differences were equivalent across grade levels when meaningfulness was held constant. Implications for child learning research and theory are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of hypnotic time distortion upon free-recall learning.

Attempted, by using hypnosis to modify the perception of the passage of clock time, to alter the amount of effective time available to Ss for free-recall learning. 80 undergraduate and graduate students served as Ss, in 8 experimental groups of 10 each. It was hypothesized that if effective time is manipulated successfully by hypnotic instructions designed to produce time distortion, Ss receiving instructions designed to stretch 3 min into 10 should perform as well in a free-recall learning task as Ss allotted 10 min of nominal time and better than Ss allotted 3 min of nominal time for the task. This was found to be the case. Results are compared to those of previous studies, and limitations of the investigation are mentioned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal-discrimination learning following a free-recall familiarization training procedure.

Investigated the effects of transfer from a modified free-recall task to verbal-discrimination (VD) learning. The free-recall procedure was designed to impact increments in experimental frequency to specific words that appeared in VD. 4 experimental groups, with 30 undergraduates in each, were given prior free-recall exposure to either all right VD items (A-R), all wrong (A-W), both the right and wrong items from same VD pairs (B-S), or both the right and wrong items from different VD pairs (B-D). A 5th group of 30 Ss served as a control and learned a free-recall list which did not contain any VD items (C). In terms of number of correct responses during VD learning, the groups were ordered as follows: A-R, C, A-W, B-S, and B-D. Results are interpreted as being consistent with derivations from the frequency theory of VD learning. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encoding conditions and the list-strength effect.

The list-strength effect occurs when "strong" items within a list are remembered at the expense of "weak" items within that same list. Two experiments (using 185 college student Ss) showed that variably encoded words were remembered better than words repeated with the same encoding context, whether memory was measured by free recall, frequency estimates, or recognition d'. However, there was little or no evidence from any of the measures that the variably encoded words were recollected in the mixed lists at the expense of the similarly encoded words. This pattern held even though, in Exp 2, there was a list-strength effect on free recall, when list strength was manipulated by increasing the number of presentations of a word. It is concluded that the free recall results could not be accommodated by the model of memory postulated by R. M. Shiffrin et al (see record 1990-13917-001) to account for the effects of list strength. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ambiguity and context processing in human predictive learning.

Two experiments explored the role of ambiguity on context processing by using relative stimulus validity designs in human predictive learning. Two groups of participants were trained with 2 stimulus compounds (XY and XZ). In Group TD (true discrimination), compound XY was always followed by the outcome, whereas compound XZ was never followed by it. In Group PD (pseudodiscrimination) the presentation of each compound was followed by the outcome in half of the trials. Experiment 1 found that pseudodiscrimination facilitated context dependency of reliable predictors regardless of whether they were trained in the same context in which pseudodiscrimination took place or in an alternative context in which true discrimination was conducted. Experiment 2 found context dependency of reliable predictors trained and tested in PD contexts, suggesting that the ambiguity in the meaning of the cues produced by pseudodiscrimination training is at least partially responsible for the context switch effects found in ambiguous situations in human predictive learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Word learning in the context of referential and salience cues.

Adult referential behavior (gaze direction) and salience (target activation) were independently manipulated in a study of novel word learning. Children (seventy-five 18-month-olds and seventy-two 24-month-olds) were trained in different conditions with a novel word in the context of 2 remote-controlled toys. In response to the novel word at test, 24-month-olds tended to pick out the toy to which the adult referred in all conditions. They also tended to use the novel word appropriately. Comprehension by 18-month-olds was good when the salience of the toy did not conflict with the adult's referential intent, but it was disrupted when referential and salience cues conflicted and when referential cues were not available. Results imply that, at 24 months, children use the referential intent of the speaker to learn new words, but when first learning words, children may have a less secure grasp on the meaning of speakers' referential cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's verbal rehearsal in a free-recall task.

Predicted that, while the use of categories in rehearsal would increase with age, organized rehearsal would be related to recall accuracy and recall organization for all ages tested. Data from 20 3rd and 20 6th graders confirm the predictions but are inconclusive for 20 kindergartners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nicotine enhances context learning but not context-shock associative learning.

Nicotine has been found to enhance learning in a variety of tasks, including contextual fear conditioning. During contextual fear conditioning animals have to learn the context and associate the context with an unconditioned stimulus (footshock). As both of these types of learning co-occur during fear conditioning, it is not clear whether nicotine enhances one or both of these types of learning. To tease these two forms of learning apart, the authors made use of the context preexposure facilitation effect (CPFE). Acquisition of the CPFE requires that contextual and context-shock learning occurs on separate days, allowing for their individual manipulation. Nicotine (0.09 mg/kg) administered prior to contextual learning and retrieval enhanced the CPFE whereas administration prior to context-shock learning and retrieval had no effect. Thus, nicotine enhances contextual learning but not context-shock associative learning. Finally, the results are discussed in terms of a theory of how nicotine could alter hippocampal-cortical-amygdala interactions to facilitate contextual learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of class membership, method of presentation, and restricted association strength on free-recall learning.

Composed free-recall lists of subordinate, superordinate, coordinate, contrasting, or unrelated pairs of words and presented them in random or block order for 8 presentation-recall periods. Ss were 310 undergraduates. Category clustering was greater for each related list relative to the unrelated list and for the subordinate and coordinate lists relative to the other related lists. Recall was superior for the subordinate list relative to the superordinate or unrelated list, and no other interlist differences in recall were obtained. All performance measures were superior with block, compared to random, presentation. The normative strength of conceptual relations was not an influential factor within the range studied. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encoding context and retrieval conditions as determinants of the effects of natural category size.

Studying a familiar word activates its associates in long-term memory. In the present experiments we manipulated the number of associates activated by words studied in the presence of unrelated context words, meaningfully related context words, or in the absence of modifying context words. Memory was tested by either cued or free recall. The results showed that the number of directly activated associates can facilitate, have no effect, or disrupt recall for studied words. The direction and magnitude of the effects of number of activated associates is shown to be determined by the encoding/retrieval context. Implications for the distinction between episodic and semantic memory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in implicit learning of spatial context.

The authors examined whether a form of implicit memory that has been unambiguously dissociated from conscious awareness--learning of spatial context on the contextual cuing task introduced by M. M. Chun and Y. Jiang (1998)--is mature in childhood as predicted by an evolutionary view of cognition. School-aged children did not show reliable learning relative to adults who performed the same version of the task or another version that slowed responses to match those of children. Thus, unreliable learning in childhood was mediated by immature implicit representations of spatial context rather than by slower baseline response speed. The present finding is inconsistent with the prediction of the evolutionary view of cognition but consistent with incomplete maturation of medial temporal lobes known to mediate contextual learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term retention of vocabulary after keyword and context learning.

Long-term retention of new vocabulary meanings acquired through keyword or semantic-context methods was assessed in two experiments. College students learned a list of 30 English vocabulary-meaning pairs until all meanings could be correctly recalled when they were given the vocabulary words. Subjects were again tested on cued-recall performance 1 week later. Although the keyword method facilitated initial learning of the vocabulary meanings, there were no differences in long-term retention as a function of learning method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encoding fluency is a cue used for judgments about learning.

The authors used paired-associate learning to investigate the hypothesis that the speed of generating an interactive image (encoding fluency) influenced 2 metacognitive judgments: judgments of learning (JOLs) and quality of encoding ratings (QUEs). Results from Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that latency of a keypress indicating successful image formation was negatively related to both JOLs and QUEs even though latency was unrelated to recall. Experiment 3 demonstrated that when concrete and abstract items were mixed in a single list, latency was related to concreteness, judgments, and recall. However, item concreteness and fluency influenced judgments independently of one another. These outcomes suggest an important role of encoding fluency in the formation of metacognitive judgments about learning and future recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extinction and latent inhibition of within-event learning are context specific.

Exposure to a solution composed of an odor (almond) and a taste (salt) produced a context-independent preference when rats were subsequently tested with almond under a salt appetite. Postcompound exposure to either the almond or the salt alone reduced almond preferences but only when rats were tested in the extinction context. Exposure to either the almond or the salt in 1 context in advance of exposure to the compound in a different context also reduced preferences but only when the rats were tested in the context in which the element had been pre-exposed. These results show that extinction and latent inhibition of within-event learning are context specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Global context effect in normal and scrambled musical sequences.

The processing of chords is facilitated when they are harmonically related to the context in which they appear. The purpose of this study was to assess whether this harmonic priming effect depends on the version (normal vs. scrambled) of the context chord sequences. Normal sequences were scrambled by permuting chords two-by-two (Experiment 1) or four-by-four (Experiments 2 and 3). Normal chord sequences were judged less coherent than scrambled-sequences. However, normal chord sequences showed facilitation for harmonically related rather than for unrelated targets, and this effect of relatedness did not diminish for scrambled sequences (Experiments 1–3). The data of musicians and nonmusicians were interpreted with Bharucha's (1987) spreading activation framework. Simulations suggested that harmonic priming results from activation that spreads via schematic knowledge of Western harmony and accumulates in short-term memory over the course of the chord sequence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When self-efficacy negatively relates to motivation and performance in a learning context.

Recent reviews of the training literature have advocated directly manipulating self-efficacy in an attempt to improve the motivation of trainees. However, self-regulation theories conceive of motivation as a function of various goal processes, and assert that the effect of self-efficacy should depend on the process involved. Training contexts may evoke planning processes in which self-efficacy might negatively relate to motivation. Yet the typical between-persons studies in the current literature may obscure the effect. To examine this issue, 63 undergraduate students completed a series of questionnaires measuring self-efficacy and motivation before 5 class exams. Self-efficacy was negatively related to motivation and exam performance at the within-person level of analysis, despite a significant positive relation with performance at the between-persons level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial context learning survives interference from working memory load.

The human visual system is constantly confronted with an overwhelming amount of information, only a subset of which can be processed in complete detail. Attention and implicit learning are two important mechanisms that optimize vision. This study addressed the relationship between these two mechanisms. Specifically we asked, Is implicit learning of spatial context affected by the amount of working memory load devoted to an irrelevant task? We tested observers in visual search tasks where search displays occasionally repeated. Observers became faster when searching repeated displays than unrepeated ones, showing contextual cuing. We found that the size of contextual cuing was unaffected by whether observers learned repeated displays under unitary attention or when their attention was divided using working memory manipulations. These results held when working memory was loaded by colors, dot patterns, individual dot locations, or multiple potential targets. We conclude that spatial context learning is robust to interference from manipulations that limit the availability of attention and working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speed of information processing as a mediator between age and free-recall performance.

A combined experimental and individual differences approach was used to investigate the mediating role of task-specific and task-independent speed of information processing measures in the relationship between age and free-recall performance. 36 younger adults (mean age 21 yrs) and 36 older adults (mean age 73 yrs) participated. Participants were required to encode 3 lists of words for immediate recall, by rehearsing the words aloud, once, twice, and 3 times. Participants' speed of information processing was assessed by 3 measures: rehearsal time, articulation speed, and scores on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). Working memory was also assessed by a backward word-span measure. As predicted, younger adults recalled more words after rehearsing words 3 times rather than once, whereas older adults' recall did not increase with increasing numbers of rehearsals. Younger adults were faster on all speed-of-processing measures and had higher backward word span than did older adults. Task-independent speed of processing, measured by DSST scores and articulation speed, mediated the relationship between age and free recall. Scores on the DSST appear to reflect a fundamental difference between younger and older adults that influences recall performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encoding processes and memory organization: A model of the von Restorff effect.

The mechanisms underlying the improved recall of isolated events (von Restorff effect) were investigated. Participants studied lists of stimuli containing a physical and a semantic isolate while performing a physical task or a lexical decision task. The physical-task group showed a physical but not a semantic isolation effect (IE) in free recall, whereas the lexical-decision group displayed both types of IEs. The recall of the isolates was independent of that of the other words, and isolates were usually reported separately from other words in the list. Event-related potentials recorded at encoding predicted the recall of both types of isolates. In recognition tests, the IE was obtained only when the encoding context was reinstated. These results are consistent with a model of the IE that stresses the role of the encoding processes immediately following the presentation of distinctive events, and that postulates interactions between these processes and subsequent elaboration of the stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)