Imagery and multiple-list paired-associate learning in young children

Abstract

Preschool children learned 4 paired-associate lists, with the same stimuli in all lists, and then were tested for retention of all lists. Two variables were combined factorially: (a) stimulus and response shown in conjunetive relation (control) vs shown in mutual interaction (“compound imagery”), and (b) response item shown only during acquisition of the list in which it occurred vs shown in that list and all subsequent lists. Acquisition was facliitated by imagery whether or not the responses were repeated, and was inhibited by repetition of responses in both the imagery and control conditions (i.e., Imagery and Response Treatment had significant main effects and did not interact). Retention was not affected by imagery but was facilitated by response-repetition, presumably because of the extra learning possible with repetition of responses. The facilitation was limited to the primacy position; with single-list presentation of responses there was a recency effect. Thus, “built-up” images (the repeated-response Imagery condition) yield maximum performance when acquisition and retention are equally important. The use of such images might prevent interference.