TASK DIFFICULTY AND EFFECT OF VERBAL REINFORCEMENT COMBINATIONS ON A VERBAL-CODING TASK.

Abstract

To explore whether a coding task is a function of task difficulty and verbal reinforcement combinations, a 2 x 3 factorial design was used, with 15 boys (15 to 19 yr. old) in each cell. Task difficulty was determined in terms of the non-association value of the syllables used (Urnemoto, et al., 1955), i.e., mean non-association value under the difficult task was 63% and that under the easy task 3%. Reinforcement combinations were that (a) E says Right after correct responses and Wrong after incorrect responses (RW), (b) Wrong after incorrect responses (NW), and (c) Right after correct responses (RN) . Learning material was a pack of 40 cards. A 1-digit number (1 through 5) was wrirten on the left side of the card, and a pair of 2-letter syllables was written one above the other on the right side. Each of the 5 digits appeared together with the to-be-associated syllable which was paired with each of the other 4 syllables. The 4 0 cards were presented one at a time and S was required to select one of the paired syllables which S thought would be associated with the digit. E then gave the appropriate verbal reinforcement after each response. S practiced to a learning criterion of 15 successive correct responses. Means k SD of trials to criterion were 64.93 & 34.39, 91.00 k 36.09, and 99.93 t 24.86 on the difficult task for RW, NW, and RN, respectively, and were 59.80 & 36.72, 48.27 k 38.59, and 50.20 & 40.21 on the easy task in the same order. An analysis of variance showed that both the main e€fect of task difficulty and the interaction between the 2 variables were statistically significant. The significant interaction was based on the fact that RW leads to faster learning than NW and RN on the difficult task while no significant difference is found on the easy task. Thus our findings were at variance with those of previous studies (e.g., Buss, et al., 1956; Buchwald, 1959).