The transfer of interitem associations in serial learning

Abstract

Ninety Ss were assigned randomly to learn one of three serial lists followed by the same paired-associated (PA) list. Twenty-seven additional Ss learned the PA list only. The pairs were composed of adjacent items in the first serial list, of nonadjacent items in the second, and of items irrelevant to the third serial list. The PA performance of Ss who learned the first serial list was superior to those who learned either the second or the third list and to those who did not receive any serial learning. All serial learning was effected by the varied starting position method (VSP). Results indicate that interitem associations were formed under VSP and positively transferred to PA learning. The failure of such transfer under the constant starting position method (CSP) is attributed to the masking effects of multiple chaining and serial position cues, both of which are stronger under CSP than under VSP.