Stimulus context effects, associative strength, and word frequency as determiners of free recall in paired-associate learning.

Two levels of response word frequency and three levels of associative strength of paired-associates were used to form six lists. One level of low associative strength between pairs to be learned was created by re-pairing stimuli and responses from high associative strength lists. Both the high associative strength condition and the re-paired condition produced superior recall of response items. Results suggested that the development of response availability in paired-associate learning depends in part not only upon the strength of the initial relationship between each stimulus and response pair to be learned, but also upon the context provided by other stimuli in the list. The meaning of "present at input" in studies evaluating the principle of encoding specificity (Tulving & Thompson, 1973) was questioned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associative interference in the paired-associate learning of remitted and nonremitted schizophrenics.

This experiment replicates a previous study which showed that recently hospitalized schizophrenics and normals did not differ in susceptibility to associative interference. 80 long-term schizophrenics were divided into remitted and nonremitted groups according to current mental status. The nonremitted Ss tended to exhibit more associative interference than either the remitted Ss or the normals in the previous study (.05     

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)     

Associative chunk strength in artificial grammar learning.

In 4 experiments, adherence to grammatical rules and associative chunk strength (including different measures, each calculated on the basis of the frequency with which bigrams and trigrams present in the test strings appeared in the learning strings) were manipulated independently in the test phase of an artificial grammar learning task. When participants learned few items of the grammar (Experiments 1A and 2A), the associated items were more often classified as grammatical than the nonassociated ones. On the other hand, when the learning phase included most of the grammatical items (Experiments 1B and 2B), the only effect observed was an effect of grammaticality. These results suggest that, depending on the specific constraints of the tasks, knowledge based on bigrams and trigrams and knowledge based on the abstraction of the grammatical structure can be used for the classification task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery and paired-associate learning.

In Exp. I with 20 undergraduates, the rate of paired-associate learning varied with the type of stimulus, from fastest to slowest: pictures (P), object names (ON), and category names (CN). The stimulus materials did not differ in meaningfulness, and ON had shorter imaginal latencies than CN. The ON-CN difference was replicated in Exp. II with 15 Ss, but presentation of the appropriate P together with an ON or CN on the 1st study trial did not facilitate acquisition of either list. Exp. III with 20 Ss involved the short-term retention of pairs. Using a measure of conditional recall (of responses, given stimulus recall), forgetting occurred over 18 sec., primarily in the 1st 3 sec., but was unaffected by the type of stimulus. The data led to a reevaluation of the conceptual peg hypothesis. (French summary) (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Representational aspects of word imageability and word frequency as assessed through word association.

Assessed the effects of word imageability and word frequency (WF) in word association (WA). Exps 1 and 2 employed the discrete WA task, whereas Exp 3 used the continued WA task. Data from Exps 1–3 showed that word imageability strongly determines responding in WA, whereas WF hardly affects it. Exp 4 (lexical decision) and 5 (word naming) explored the possibility that WF effects on the word-recognition stage in WA might have interfered with any effect of WF on the association-retrieval stage, a possibility that was not borne out by data. Exps 6–8 examined whether the absence of frequency effects on WA in Exps 1–3 might have been due to the fact that the WF classes had a restricted range. A new set of stimulus materials was constructed, with frequency classes further apart. Some small effects of this variable on WA were found. Results point out that the concept nodes for high-imageability words contain more information than those of low-imageability words and that relatively strong links depart fron the former type of nodes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mnemonics and intra-list interference in paired-associate learning.

Hypothesized that mnemonics facilitate paired-associate learning by increasing the distinctiveness of pairs thereby reducing intralist interference. Mnemonic devices were presented with pairs with intralist stimulus similarity being either high or low. Greater facilitation of learning due to mnemonic presentation was expected under high similarity. Ss were 85 male and 128 female paid volunteers. While mnemonics facilitated learning, the distinctiveness hypothesis was not supported in terms of learning rate. However, support was obtained in additional error analyses and when S report data were examined. It is concluded that mnemonics increase pair distinctiveness, but this effect is only 1 factor in mnemonic facilitation of learning. (French summary) (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pupillary dilation and mediation processes during paired-associate learning.

Describes 2 experiments with 54 undergraduates in which pupillary activity was continuously photographed during mediator-formation and paired-associate (PA) learning tasks involving nouns as items. Abstractness-concreteness of the nouns and mediation instructions (imagery, verbal, or none) were varied. The magnitude and latency of pupillary dilation as well as task performance were measured. The PA recall data confirm previous findings in showing strong positive effects of concreteness, especially as a stimulus variable. Learning was generally best under the imagery mediation set, its superiority over the verbal mediation condition being greatest in the case of pairs with abstract stimulus members. Pupil size during learning was largest when no mediation instructions were given and when stimulus members were abstract, supporting an interpretation of pupillary dilation as an index of cognitive task difficulty. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incidental learning, noun imagery-concreteness and direction of associations in paired-associate learning.

Examined the effect of imagery-concreteness pairs in incidental learning. In Exp. I with 96 undergraduates, intentional learning was superior to incidental learning. Recall of concrete-concrete noun pairs was significantly better than recall of all other pairs, while concrete-abstract and abstract-concrete nouns did not differ from each other but did differ from abstract-abstract recall. In Exp. II with 64 Ss, instructions to use imagery during the orientation task resulted in similar performance for incidental and intentional learning Ss. Concreteness yielded a greater effect on the stimulus side than on the response side of pairs, particularly for stimulus-response recall. Associative directionality had no reliable effects in either experiment. Results are discussed in terms of A. Paivio's conceptual peg hypothesis and 2-process theory of verbal and imaginal memory. (French summary) (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactive effects of age and familiarization in paired-associate learning.

Prior to learning a list of paired associates consisting of pictures of common objects, 40 preschool and 40 2nd graders were given 1 of 4 familiarization conditions: stimulus pretraining, response pretraining, irrelevant pretraining, and no pretraining. Results show that the 2nd graders exhibited positive transfer from familiarization to paired-associate learning due to nonspecific factors such as "warm-up." The preschoolers, however, displayed positive transfer due to more specific factors inherent in response and stimulus pretraining. These results suggest that the pretraining experience facilitated rehearsal by making available verbal labels. Results are consistent with (a) developmental hypotheses that emphasize growth in discriminative capacity and/or verbal mediation and (b) phase theories of paired-associate learning that emphasize stimulus and response learning stages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery versus meaningfulness of nouns in paired-associate learning.

Investigated effects of noun imagery (I) and meaningfulness (m) on paired-associate (PA) learning using 3 PA lists. In 1 list, I was varied on stimulus and response sides in a factorial design while m was held constant; in another, m was similarly varied while I was controlled; in the 3rd, I and m were covaried. 33 undergraduates served as Ss. 4 study-test trials with each list showed that I was alone had strong positive effects, more so on the stimulus than response side of pairs, whereas m alone showed negative effects attributable mainly to superior learning of low m-low m pairs. The covarying attributes had intermediate effects, suggesting again that the contribution of m was negative. Exp. II yielded insignificant effects for m when varied on stimulus and response sides using homogeneous lists. 68 Canadian Forces trainees served as Ss. The patterns of learning data and post learning reports of learning strategies are consistent with an interpretation of the effects of I in terms of mediating imagery. The negative effect of m suggests associative interference. (French summary) (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, pacing, and imagery in paired-associate learning.

18 males and 36 females in each of 2 age groups (mean ages, 29 and 69 yrs) learned highly concrete noun pairs. Anticipation and presentation intervals were manipulated (2 vs 6 sec), and there were no, E-provided, or self-generated imagery instructions. Sex of S and presentation interval had no significant effects. Both age groups benefited from imagery instructions, especially self-generated imagery. With self-generated imagery and the longer anticipation time, the old performed as well as the young; with no-imagery instructions and the shorter anticipation time, the young performed as poorly as the old. With the other combinations of instructions and intervals, the young outperformed the old. Thus, the young needed the longer anticipation time only in the no-imagery condition, but the old needed it to benefit the imagery intructions. It is concluded that the old are as capable as the young of generating and using imagery when so instructed, although the old require a longer retrieval time. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Media and symbol systems as related to cognition and learning.

Discusses the failure of research on media to deal with media's most essential characteristic—their symbol systems. The general nature of symbol systems is described, followed by a theoretical consideration of how symbol systems relate to cognition and learning. Empirical research is cited to show that media's symbol systems vary as to content, the kinds of knowledge availed, the amount of mental elaboration required, and the mental skills called upon. In addition, studies are described to show that symbolic elements used by media can facilitate the cultivation of mental skills in interaction with individual differences and depth of processing. Two mechanisms are mentioned: overt supplantation, or modeling of a transformation, and activation of skills. It is argued that these and other mechanisms, such as short-circuiting, serve different learners for different ends. (71 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associative sequence learning in humans.

In a series of experiments using the serial reaction time paradigm, the authors compared the predictions of a powerful associative model of sequence learning (the simple recurrent network; J. L. Elman, 1990) with human performance on the problem devised by A. Maskara and W. Noetzel (1993). Even though the predictions made by the simple recurrent network for variants of this problem are often counterintuitive, they matched human performance closely, suggesting that performance was associatively based rather than rule based. Simple associative chaining models of sequence learning, however, have difficulty in accommodating these results. The authors' conclusion is that, under the conditions of the experiments, human sequence learning is associatively driven, as long as this is understood to mean that a sufficiently powerful means of extracting the statistical regularities in the sequences is in play. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in mediation in children's motor paired-associate learning.

In a combined verbal and motor paired-associate task, 138 children in kindergarten and 2nd and 4th grade learned nonsense names and spatial responses for 3 random shapes. Earlier findings that older children tend to learn the verbal and motor responses in consistent pairs were explained theoretically in terms of the development of mediated associations. The present purpose was to study age trends in the mediational process. Evidence for mediation was obtained at all 3 age levels. An increase in mediational effects with age is interpreted as evidence of control deficiency, since production deficiency was precluded. Rehearsal deficit in younger children is discussed as a possible explanation for the observed age trends. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auditory word recognition: Extrinsic and intrinsic effects of word frequency.

Two experiments investigated the influence of word frequency in a phoneme identification task. Speech voicing continua were constructed so that one endpoint was a high-frequency word and the other endpoint was a low-frequency word (e.g., best–pest). Exp 1 demonstrated that ambiguous tokens were labeled such that a high-frequency word was formed (intrinsic frequency effect). Exp 2 manipulated the frequency composition of the list (extrinsic frequency effect). A high-frequency list bias produced an exaggerated influence of frequency; a low-frequency list bias showed a reverse frequency effect. Reaction time (RT) effects were discussed in terms of activation and postaccess decision models of frequency coding. Results support a late use of frequency in auditory word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paired-associate learning in young and elderly adults as related to presentation rate.

Reviews studies comparing the paired-associate learning of adults as related to age and presentation rate. The review indicates that the acquisition of young adults is superior to that of the elderly and that the shorter the anticipation (but not confirmation) interval, the greater the age difference in acquisition. It is concluded that the age-related deficit in performance reflects both the effects of performance factors and the effects of a learning disability. The reversibility of the learning disability is also discussed. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal contrast and the word frequency effect.

Studied the word frequency effect in recall and recognition under 3 list structures: (a) homogeneous rare or common nouns, (b) mixed alternating frequencies, and (c) mixed blocked frequencies. Exp I with 96 undergraduates found that the number of frequency contrasts within a list had a clear effect on recall and little effect on recognition. Recall of rare items was poor in a homogeneous list, equal to common items in a blocked list, and better than common items when in a list of alternating frequencies. Exp II with 48 Ss examined the reversed frequency effect of the alternating list under overt and covert rehearsal conditions across 3 trials. Under overt rehearsal there was no significant difference in number of rehearsals of rare and common items. The superior recall of rare items present on Trial 1 decreased across trials supporting a stimulus change-contrast interpretation of the effect of mixed frequency items in free recall. (French summary) (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critical role of the parahippocampal region for paired-associate learning in rats.

Human amnesics are severely impaired in learning arbitrary associations between word pairs. This report examines the role of the hippocampal system in an analog of paired-associate learning developed for rats. Ss with selective damage to the parahippocampal region and controls were tested on an odor-guided paired-associate task. Normal rats readily learned to distinguish paired associates from various mispairings of the same odors, whereas most animals with parahippocampal damage failed to learn. Lesioned animals were, however, able to acquire correct responses to stimulus pairs for which an association between odors was not required. These findings extend the usefulness of olfactory learning as a model for studies of higher order learning capacity in rodents and indicate that in rats, as in humans, hippocampal areas are critical for learning arbitrary nonspatial relationships between stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associative learning changes intrinsic to Hermissenda Type A photoreceptors.

The eyes of the nudibranch mollusc Hermissenda contain 2 classes of photoreceptors. Type B photoreceptors exhibit increased light responses (LRs) and membrane excitability after repeated pairings of light and rotation and play an important role in the mediation of associatively produced reductions in phototactic behavior. Type A photoreceptors (TAPs) have also been shown to change with associative training. In previous research it was not possible to determine whether the effects of associative training reflected changes in synaptic input to TAPs or intrinsic changes in somatic conductances. In the present study, intracellular recordings from synaptically isolated TAPs were obtained on retention days after training, and pairing-specific decreases in light-induced generator potentials and decreases in resting input resistance were observed. Current- and voltage-clamp analysis of TAPs from untrained animals revealed that an important determinant of the steady-state LR was a calcium-activated K+ current (IK–Ca). Thus, TAPs also appear to be a primary site for associative information storage in Hermissenda. It is suggested that enhancement of IK–Ca by associative training may contribute to the diminished LR of TAPs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)