Temporary Forgetting of Nonsense Syllables in Paired-Associate Learning

Abstract

34 undergraduate students were assigned to learn one of two lists of 8 CVCs paired with two-digit numbers. After the “memory buffer,” a limited-capacity intermediate stage between sensory input and long-term store, was filled, all Ss forgot old syllables when adding new ones a significant number of times. The CVCs of one list had an association value of 80% and those of the other list an association value of 20%. Although CVCs having lower association values required a greater number of trials to reach criterion there was no significant interaction between association value and the displacement of syllables. This study was designed to support Atkinson's (1969), Feigenbaum's (1969), and Talland's (1968) multi-stage learning models by showing that after the memory buffer is filled in paired-associate learning using the anticipation method, new syllables are learned at the expense of forgetting old syllables.