| Abstract: | Conducted a verbal-discrimination (VD) study with 96 undergraduates. VD acquisition of 30 pairs of high-frequency (H) or low-frequency (L) English words was compared following 1, 3, or 9 relevant (R) or irrelevant (I) familiarization exposures. L lists were learned more quickly than H lists. Performance was poorer in H-R than H-I, but L-R and L-I did not differ significantly. Results suggest that R familiarization training for L lists stabilized encoding of items and thus offset detrimental effects of accrued frequency. Free recall following VD learning showed different patterns of variable effects than VD acquisition; learning which permitted recall of items did not facilitate VD performance. (French summary) (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
