The Effects of Variable Contexts on the Acquisition and Retention of Paired Associates

Abstract

The effective stimuli in paired-associate learning are not necessarily limited to the verbal items designated as the specific cues to the responses. Contextual features may serve as additional cues or may, indeed, supersede the nominal verbal stimuli. When there is a one-to-one relationship between the two sets of cues, well-differentiated and familiar contextual features, such as colors, are considerably more effective as stimuli than verbal items of low meaningfulness. Thus, when a compound stimulus consisting of a nonsense-item against a colored background is used in training, performance on a test of retention is higher when the colors alone are used as stimuli than when only the verbal items are presented.' Since transfer from compounds to contextual elements may be as high as 100%, there is no reason to assume that configurational learning or summation of habits occurs in acquisition.2 On the other hand, since both the nominal stimulus and the contextual features usually prove functional on a test of transfer, it is plausible to conclude that independent associations can be developed to each set of cues. With stimuli composed of separate distinctive elements, selective association of the responses to the mo6t effective components of the compounds become possible. Thus, compound stimuli may produce faster learning and better recall than either the nominal or the contextual cues by themselves.3 The same analysis should apply to situations in which the nominal verbal stimulus is presented in the context of other verbal items. In Pan's classical study, contextual verbal cues logically