The interrelationships among some associative learning tasks

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if associative learning tasks involve two or more relatively independent factors (as suggested by an earlier study). To that end, 12 tasks were constructed; 3 were “standard” (paired associate, free recall, serial), and the others represented transition tasks between the standard tasks. The purpose was to see if factors (as determined by a factor analysis) changed in a meaningful way as the transition was made from one task to another. Some response units were single words, some were word triads; some of the word triads were meaningless, some formed sentences. Paired associate lists also differed in terms of the number of response terms to be associated with a single stimulus term. The 12 tasks were learned by 97 subjects. Two relatively stable highly correlated factors emerged, one involving free recall and serial tasks, the other involving paired associate tasks. This does not confirm the earlier work; the reason for this discrepancy is not known. Again, however, the data emphasized the importance of individual differences in associative learning in contrast to the relatively minor role of the Subject by Task interaction.