Occupational Role Values and Verbal Reinforcement as Incentives in Children's Verbal Learning

Abstract

Summary The differential incentive values of verbal stimuli were tested, under conditions of high and low verbal reinforcement, by a paired associate learning task with 40 fifth-grade boys. Stimuli were preference scaled occupational roles and CVC trigrams, with correct recognitions of trigrams on test trials reinforced by evaluative words. The main hypothesis of superiority of high preference items in effecting acquisition was confirmed by backward learning curves and analysis of variance (p < .005). Verbal reinforcement level showed no reliable effect on acquisition. The determination of order of acquisition in learning by incentive values was interpreted by attention theory and the two-link model.