Response and associative phase components of elaborative prompt effects in children's noun-pair learning

The effects of aural and pictorial elaborative prompts were estimated separately for response and associative phase components of children's nounpair learning. A 20-item list of noun pairs was administered individually to 200 second- and third-grade children by the method of paired-associates. Indices of response learning (free verbal recall and pictorial identification) revealed equivalent effects among prompt conditions whereas measures of associative learning (multiple-choice pictorial-recognition tests) demonstrated substantial performance facilitation as a function of both aural and pictorial elaborative prompts. This outcome was regarded as an unequivocal identification of the locus of elaborative prompt effects in children's nounpair learning.