Relationship between Range of Examples and of Instructions and Attention in Concept Attainment

Abstract

The utility of signal detection theory as a framework for the interpretation of concept acquisition was studied in three experiments involving preschool children. In the first two experiments, one group was taught an unfamiliar line angle concept with an example sequence containing minimally different, juxtaposed positive and negative examples and the other group was taught the same concept with a sequence of positive examples. In both experiments, preschoolers taught with the sequence containing positive and negative examples correctly identified significantly more transfer items than the positive only group. In the third experiment, one group was taught an unfamiliar line angle concept with consistent wording from example to example. The other group was taught with instructions that changed from example to example. Subjects in the consistent group identified significantly more posttraining test items but did no better during transfer testing. The results are discussed in terms of signal strength and the signal-to-noise ratio of the instructional communication.