Learning of content, function, and nonsense words: An extension of Glanzer's experiment

Abstract

Two experiments, using a mixed-list design, assessed the implications of Glanzer's (1962) “Unit” analysis and the grapnel interpretation of associative learning. The experiments compared the associative learning of content, function, and nonsense words. In Exp. I, the words were learned when they appeared alone either as stimuli or as responses in the paired-associate lists. In Exp. II, they were learned when presented in nonsense-syllable frames. In Exp. I the content words were learned better than both the function and the nonsense words. The learning of the function words was not different from that of the nonsense words. In Exp. II, the superiority in the learning of the content words disappeared, but the function words gained superiority over the nonsense words. The results are consistent with Glanzer's unit analysis and reveal the inadequacy of the grapnel model.