A stochastic model for rote serial learning

A model for the acquisition of responses in an anticipatory rote serial learning situation is presented. The model is developed in detail for the case of a long intertrial interval and employed to fit data where the list length is varied from 8 to 18 words. Application of the model to the case of a short intertrial interval is considered; some predictions are derived and checked against experimental data.The author wishes to thank Professors C. J. Burke and W. K. Estes for advice and assistance in carrying out this research.     

Generalization of position association in rote serial learning

Summary Thirty-six Ss practiced two serial lists of identical length in haphazard alternation. At each position in a list, a maximum number of intruding responses arrived from the same position in the other list, and the frequency of intrusion from a non-identical position in the other list declined with increase of positional disparity in either direction. The reliability of this gradient-like phenomenon, which could not be verified by the method of trend analysis owing to insufficient data, is partially indicated by the occurrence of interlist intrusions at a significantly higher rate between identical than between non-identical positions. These results are interpreted as an evidence in support of the hypothesis that not only associations develop between the items of a rote series and their serial positions but also these associations generalize between positions in inverse proportion to the intervening distance.     

Influence of a depressant drug on acquisition in rote learning

Central depressant drugs have been shown to impair performance during learning and at recall. The experiment which is described was carried out to investigate whether the effect during learning is primarily on the availability of associations or on their formation. The learning decrement attributable to the drug used (30 per cent. nitrous oxide in oxygen) persisted on recovery from the drug and during subsequent learning under normal conditions. It is concluded that the effect of the drug is on acquisition rather than performance; that is, it acts so as to impede the formative process and does not merely obscure the progress of learning by blocking responses.