Relations between learning curve parameters and amount of material to be learned

Abstract

SUMMARYThis paper is concerned with the problem of relating learning parameters to the length of material to be learned. Parameters of a learning curve equation—previously used in two experimental studies—were determined for varying length of materials. The learning curve is, where R is a scaled learning measure, b a parameter indicating the asymptotic level, β a parameter showing the curvature and the mean reaction threshold. According to the data model, on which the measurement method is based, the parameters b and β should be inter-individually invariant. The inter-individual differences in learning ability are accounted for by the parameter , the reaction threshold (the value to which R must reach for a correct reaction to occur).The main results of the investigation may be summarized as follows: a) The investigation supports the hypothesis that β, the curvature of the learning curve, is invariant for lists of varying length. At least it can be said that β is highly resistant to this kind of experimen...