The effects of verbalization on verbal discrimination learning and associative recall in young children and adults

Abstract

Groups of fifth-grade and college Ss learned a verbal-discrimination list consisting of 12-paired high-frequency words. The lists were learned under conditions where Ss were or were not instructed to pronounce the right and wrong items during the feedback exposure period. Following acquisition, Ss were given eight trials involving recall of Right-Wrong and Wrong-Right associations. Rate of acquisition was directly related to age and pronunciation during acquisition hindered learning for both fifth-grade and college Ss. Associative recall of both W-R and R-W associations was facilitated under the pronunciation treatment. However, W-R recall was greater than R-W recall for the college Ss, with the reverse being true for the fifth-grade Ss. The results were discussed in relation to the frequency theory of verbal-discrimination learning.