IMMEDIATE RETRIEVAL OF VERBAL SERIES AS A FUNCTION OF STIMULUS GROUPING

Abstract

Abstract : Four questions were investigated. (1) Is the learning rate enhanced if disconnected words are presented visually in clusters, e.g., pairs of quadruples, rather than individually and successively. (2) If changes do occur, and in a lawful fashion, can such differences be accounted for adequately in terms of the development of differential interitem association strengths as a function of such stimulus arrangement. (3) What differences, if any, become evident in freerecall serial position curves by such organization. (4) How is the order of responding affected by clustering. It was found that clusetering will enhance learning rate, but that the limits are extremely restricted. It was revealed that such stimulus arrangements do affect the build-up of differential interitem association strengths, but this again is within the limits alluded to above. Apparently, differential associative strengths developed by clustering markedly affect the shapes of the serial position curves for the different groups. Clustering affects the strategy an individual adopts in responding. Such became evident in the typically different orders of responding for the various conditions.