The effect of repetition of items on two phases of paired associate learning

An investigation is reported in which the effect of repetition of items on two learning tasks is determined. These tasks are considered to be analogous to the response-learning and associative phases of paired associate learning. The findings tend to support the hypotheses under investigation, that response learning is an all-or-none occurrence and that the associative phase may be explained by the dual factor hypothesis.     

Effects of age on contextually mediated associations in paired associate learning

Older and young adults learned single-function lists of paired associates with no contextual overlap (e.g., J-K, L-M) and double-function lists of paired associates consisting of chains of pairs (e.g., A-B, B-C). Although young adults outperformed older adults on both pair types, there was a robust Pair Type x Age interaction. Evidence from intrusion analyses shows that older adults performed better than would be expected on the contextually overlapping double-function pairs because they were less subject to response competition for the double-function pairs. Young adults made a larger proportion of backward and remote intrusions to double-function probes than did older adults. Thus, group differences in both correct-recall probabilities and intrusion analysis suggest that backward and transitive associations are sensitive to aging. The results are discussed within the theoretical framework of the temporal context model and the hypothesis that older adults are impaired at forming new item-context associations.     

The process of responding to personality items: Inconsistent responses to repeated presentation of identical items

A promising approach to understanding the processes involved when subjects respond to personality items is provided by the investigation of the causes of inconsistent responses when subjects answer the same item on two occasions. Among these causes are the properties of the item. Previous item research focused almost exclusively on properties which are not highly specific to the item, such as endorsement rate (ER) and social desirability scale value (SDSV). Although past studies found that items with ‘extreme’ SDSVs and/or ERs elicit fewer inconsistencies, these studies ignored more item-specific properties such as item content and item ambiguity. The present study demonstrates that contrary results regarding consistency may be obtained when more item-specific properties are taken into consideration. These results are interpreted as evidence that certain kinds of item content can increase the indecision and conflict that characterize some subjects' response processes.     

The relationship between paired associate learning and phonological skills in normally developing readers

Seventy-five 6- to 11-year-old children were administered tests of phonological awareness, verbal short term memory (STM), and visual-verbal paired associate learning (PA learning) to investigate their relationship with word recognition and decoding skills. Phonological awareness was a stronger concurrent predictor of word recognition than verbal STM, and phonological awareness but not verbal STM was a predictor of learning in the PA learning task. Importantly, measures of phonological awareness and PA learning both accounted for independent variance in word reading, even when decoding skill was controlled. The results suggest that PA learning and phonological awareness tasks tap two separate mechanisms involved in learning to read. The results are discussed in relation to current theories of reading development.     

Recall and recognition measures of paired associate learning in healthy aging

Associate-recognition has received little attention as a potential clinical tool for detecting early Alzheimer's disease (AD). As an important preliminary stage to investigating the paradigm's diagnostic utility, we designed and administered a verbal associate-recognition task to healthy elderly participants (n = 62) and compared their performance to that on traditional cued-recall PAL. In both test conditions, the stimulus list comprised of a mixture of highly imageable and less imageable word pairs. Overall, performance on the associate-recognition task was superior to that on the cued-recall analogue. This 'recognition advantage' was not attributable to the higher baseline or chance guessing rate in the associate-recognition condition, as the size of the recognition advantage varied across learning trials and stimulus imageability. In comparison to performance on the imageable stimuli, performance on the less imageable stimuli was poor in both associate-recognition and cued-recall conditions. Across the delay, performances were more likely to drop in the cued-recall condition than the associate-recognition condition. These results suggest that verbal associate-recognition may be clinically efficacious and better tolerated in elderly populations than traditional cued-recall paradigms. Although these results are encouraging, further research is required to examine the utility of associate-recognition in clinical populations, particularly early AD.     

Information processing by performers and observers in a paired associate learning task

The effects of two training procedures on learning and performance are compared. Performers select a response alternative for each stimulus on Trial 1 and receive feedback in terms of “Right” or “Wrong”. Observers receive the same information by listening to the experimenter. Experiment I tests the hypothesis that performers and observers are using a different learning strategy when there are only two response alternatives available for each stimulus on Trial 1. A recognition procedure was used on Trial 2; each stimulus was followed by four alternatives, two of them being the same as presented on Trial 1. Subjects have to recognize the two “old” alternatives. Performers are always better at recognizing the chosen alternative, whereas observers are better at recognizing the correct alternative. Experiment II extends the comparison between performers and observers to a task with four response alternatives on Trial 1. There are no longer differences in performance between the two training procedures.     

Word,nonword, and visual paired associate learning in Dutch dyslexic children

Verbal and non-verbal learning were investigated in 21 8-11-year-old dyslexic children and chronological-age controls, and in 21 7-9-year-old reading-age controls. Tasks involved the paired associate learning of words, nonwords, or symbols with pictures. Both learning and retention of associations were examined. Results indicated that dyslexic children had difficulty with verbal learning of both words and nonwords. In addition, analysis of the errors made during nonword learning showed that both phonological errors and general learning errors were distributed similarly for the reading groups. This suggests that nonword learning in dyslexics is slower, but not qualitatively different from normal readers. Furthermore, no differences were found between the dyslexics and age-matched normal readers on non-verbal learning. Long-term retention of the learned visual-verbal associations (both words and nonwords) was not impaired in dyslexic children as compared to normal readers. Finally, phonological awareness ability was assessed. Dyslexics performed worse than age-matched normal readers, but similar to reading-age controls.     

Simultaneous paired associate and verbal discrimination learning as a simulation of the double-function list

In the critical condition, the subject was required to learn associations between words in the pairs and to learn to identify simultaneously the word in each pair that had been underlined on study trials. Over trials, both types of responding were required for each pair. Control conditions were used to assess the influence of these procedures. Paired associate learning was only modestly impaired, but the verbal discrimination learning (identifying the underlined word) appeared comparable to that for a double-function verbal discrimination list. The correlational evidence indicated that insofar as the present procedures simulated a double-function list, the association between the words in a pair is not involved in a causal way for the small amount of learning that occurs across trials in a double-function list.     

Encoding variability theory and the spacing effect in associate learning

Encoding variability theory accounts for the spacing effect by assuming that, as the lag between repetitions increases, the memorial representations approach independence. A method for testing this assumption in determining repetition effects in associative learning is suggested. In the independence hypothesis, we simply assume that each presentation of a word pair is represented independently, so that the expected proportion recalled is simple, P=P1+P2 - PIP2. Two studies are reported using a continuous paired-associate task representing a factorial combination of lag and retention interval as well as single-presentation control conditions. The results indicate that for moderately long retention intervals, as the lag between repetitions increases, the observed proportion recalled is first less, then eventually exceeds, and then returns to the level expected by an independence hypothesis.     

The effect of the repeated presentation of a standard interval on the reproduction of the standard

The Langley Porter Neuropsychiatrie Institute, San Francisco, California 94122 Eleven human Ss (five male and six female) reproduced intervals of 1, 2, and 3 sec delimited by clicks after the standard intervals had been repeated one, three, or five times. The absolute error of reproduction decreased with increasing repetition of the standard for intervals of 2 and 3 sec. The effect was more pronounced with increasing duration among female Ss.     

Assessment and selection of paired associate strategies: A developmental study

First, third, and fifth graders who had been instructed to use an interaction strategy and a repetition strategy on two separate paired associate tasks were asked on which task they had remembered better and why. Subjects were then given another paired associate task and told they could use any way they wanted to remember. Memory performance was better when the interaction strategy was used than when the repetition strategy was used. A significant majority of third and fifth graders correctly judged which task they had performed better on, and the number of subjects doing so increased with grade. Only among fifth graders, did the majority of subjects explain their judgments by referring to the use of the interaction strategy. Use of the interaction strategy on Task 3 did not increase with grade but was shown by a significant majority of first and fifth graders. Use of the interaction strategy on Task 3 was more frequent among subjects who referred to the use of the interaction strategy in explaining their choice of their more successful task than among those who did not.     

The effect of statistical learning on internal stimulus representations: Predictable items are enhanced even when not predicted

Statistical learning is the automatic and unconscious learning of environmental regularities and is a basic mechanism of learning in a variety of human perceptual and cognitive domains. Previous studies have mainly focused on the associative mechanisms of statistical learning. However, an unexplored question is whether the internal representations of individual stimuli are altered as their associations are learned. Using a temporal statistical learning paradigm, we examine this question across three experiments and find clear evidence that the internal representations of individual stimuli are differentially altered according to their degree of temporal predictability. These findings complement previous accounts of statistical learning and reveal an enriched mechanism of human learning, such that learning to associate items also enhances the representations of certain items relative to others.     

The effect of repeated writing on memory

Repeated writing, or rehearsal by writing, is a common memory strategy for the Japanese, especially when learning new logographic characters. The to-be-remembered items are written down not as external prompts, as with reminder notes, but to be memorized in the course of writing them down over and over again. In this study, we investigated whether the strategy was effective, and if so, in which condition. Experiment 1 showed that repeated writing improved memory for graphic designs but not for Chinese characters, words, or syllables. Experiment 2 showed that the effect occurred for both Japanese and American subjects, suggesting that it was not the result of a cultural background associated with a logographic language. Instead, the effect seemed to be accounted for by the encoding specificity of visual-motor information, because repeated writing improved free recall— that included writing—but did not improve recognition (Experiment 3). In Experiment 4, the strategy was applied to learning the Arabic alphabet. Finally, similarities between repeated writing and