Human Learning on a Four-Section,Elevated, Finger Maze

Forty Ss learned 10 sentences composed of adjective, noun, verb, and adverb and were subsequently tested for their recall of the sentences and their ability to generate new sentences based on an association rule for words within the sentences. The rule could be discovered from the sentences learned and was comparable to grammatical rules for sentence structure. Subjects also rated the meaning of the words from the sentences before and after learning. Eight Ss were in each of five experimental conditions, which differed in terms of the degree to which the words in the 10 sentences were in a natural language order. The five orders were natural, reversed, 20% random, 50% random, and 100% random orders.

The results showed that the closer the sentence order was to natural language order, the more Ss recalled the sentences they learned and the more accurately they generated unlearned sentences, apparently as a result of discovering and using the association rule. Another finding was that the rated evaluative meaning of words changed in a predictable direction, toward the mean rating of the words associated with each word. Such meaning conditioning appears to be an automatic process comparable to classical conditioning in that it is unaffected by the order of words within sentences and occurs for different word forms.     

The High Relief Finger Maze for Human Learning

Albino rats in independent studies were administered varying dosages of diazepam and methylphenidate prior to a daily shock traumatization experience in infancy. All animals were tested on avoidance conditioning in adulthood. Both drugs were found to be effective in modifying the typically obtained shock deficit. The results failed to substantiate that increased dosage level resulted in more effective modification of trauma effects. Delayed consequences of methylphenidate administration included modification of central nervous system reactivity as manifested in quicker reaction times and growth depression as manifested in lessened body weights in this group in comparison to the diazepam group. An additional feature of the study was the finding that male and female animals responded differently to the drug and shock experiences.     

A New Maze Technique

E. D. Adrian. The Mechanism of Nervous Action. Philadelphia: Univ. Pa. Press, 1932. Pp. x+103. Reviewed by Clarence H. Graham.     

Sex of Experimenter and Intelligence as Factors in Maze Learning: A Further Comparison of Maze and Sex Differences

(Murphy, Lois Barclay. Social Behavior and Child Personality. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1937. Pp. 333.)     

Time Records in Human Maze Learning and their Comparison with Maze Records

Nine measures of role-taking in the tradition of Flavell and two measures of classification were administered to 64 boys and girls in India in four age groups: 6–7, 7–8, 8–9, and 9–10 years. The results lend cross-cultural support to the hypothesis that certain classification skills underlie this type of role-taking ability. The inappropriateness of searching for developmental relationships with some parametric statistics was also demonstrated with these data. The influence of two types of role-taking question on role-taking ability was also assessed. Role-taking questions were asked after the Ss had seen a cartoon sequence. On one type of role-taking question (a “next” question) Ss were asked how another child would think the cartoon ended if shown only the beginning. On the other type of role-taking question (a “before” question) Ss were asked how another child would think the cartoon began when shown only the end. Cartoon content was shown to influence role-taking ability in response to “next” questions.