Concept attainment by pairs and individuals as a function of vocalization.

A concept attainment task comparing vocalization and nonvocalization by pairs and individuals was conducted using 84 female college student volunteers, who solved 4 3-attribute conjunctive problems. Vocalizing pairs and individuals vocalizing to a peer apparently learning the task were superior to nonvocalizing pairs. Further distinction between 2 problem-solving processes, strategy process (measured by focusing ratio) and monitoring (measured by ratio of untenable hypotheses), was demonstrated. In terms of overall effectiveness, vocalizing pairs were superior; individuals vocalizing to a confederate, individuals vocalizing to the E, and nonvocalizing individuals were intermediate, in that order; and nonvocalizing pairs were consistently inferior. Ss in all conditions improved over problems on all measures. Implications for educational applications are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)