Abstract
Two methods of familiarization were used to explore the role of differentiation in verbal learning: simple frequency pretraining, and practice on a paired-comparisons rating task which was designed to increase differentiability. Results showed that the differentiation pretraining resulted in superior learning to frequency pretraining. But, there was significant negative transfer for the frequency groups. The negative transfer was attributed to incorrect habits due to weak interitem associations built up during familiarization. The divergence of these results from earlier work on familiarization may be due to a displacement backward of the course of learning due to the great difficulty of the task and the low availability of the items after familiarization. This divergence may be overcome in a less difficult task by continued learning or by increased familiarization. Pretraining had no effect on a production test of meaningfulness.
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