Noun Pairs Research Articles

Recall of Related and Unrelated Word Pairs: Test of Single-Continuum Theory of Memory

79 Ss processed semantically related and unrelated pairs of once-exposed concrete nouns, finding either a similarity or difference in the meanings of the paired items. Ss' recall of the second item of each pair when cued with the first was significantly influenced by both pair relationship and the processing task. The findings are interpreted within the framework of Craik and Lockhart's (1972) “level of processing” analysis of memory.

Response and associative phase components of elaborative prompt effects in children's noun-pair learning

The effects of aural and pictorial elaborative prompts were estimated separately for response and associative phase components of children's nounpair learning. A 20-item list of noun pairs was administered individually to 200 second- and third-grade children by the method of paired-associates. Indices of response learning (free verbal recall and pictorial identification) revealed equivalent effects among prompt conditions whereas measures of associative learning (multiple-choice pictorial-recognition tests) demonstrated substantial performance facilitation as a function of both aural and pictorial elaborative prompts. This outcome was regarded as an unequivocal identification of the locus of elaborative prompt effects in children's nounpair learning.

Syntactic facilitation of children's associative learning: An instructional effect

An experiment is reported in which connective recall, as well as noun recall, was obtained in a pair-associate learning, syntactic facilitation paradigm. Dfferences in the pattern of noun and connective recall, and a partial independence in the two types of recall, were obtained. These results were interpreted as consistent with the hypothesis that experimenter-supplied verb links facilitate noun pair learning by serving an instructional role, indicating to the subject how a pair might be coded.

The function of one-word mediators in the recall of word pairs

The problem of demonstrating that natural language mediators play a role in learning and are not epiphenomena resulting from learning is an important problem in cognitive learning theories. Using a cued-recall and a free-recall learning task, Ss were requested to add a one-word mediator to some of the pairs of concrete nouns presented, The mediated pairs were learned better than the control pairs in both tasks. Both words were recalled only when the mediator was also recalled. Also, one-word mediators were the most effective recall cues and were the best recalled words in free recall. A two-stage learning model adequately described the data. However, a counterargument can be made which considers the mediator to be a high associate of one of the words presented and actually has no direct link to the other presented word. A possible experimental resolution of the problem is discussed.

Imagery and long-term retention

Long-term retention of high- and low-imagery nouns was assessed in incremental free recall, paired-associates learning, and cued and noncued recall of noun pairs. In each case imagery had a clear positive effect on long-term retention, and the effect could not be explained by differential acquisition of the material. Results of the experiments were also examined by analyzing subjective organization, and by comparing cued and noncued recall. Such results were interpreted as supporting an imagery-organization hypothesis which asserts that images aroused by discrete verbal items can be combined into complex, integrated images, the components of which provide effective cues for retrieving or redintegrating the remainder of the unit.

Memory for noun pairs in the same or different underlying strings

A number of studies have shown that children learn noun pairs faster when they have been presented in a noun-verb-noun context than when they are presented in a noun-conjunction-noun context. Suzuki and Rohwer (1969) hypothesized that the underlying strings of sentences correspond to memory units, making it easier to recall two nouns from the same underlying string than from two different underlying strings. They reported that data from fifth graders supported this hypothesis but that data from college students did not. The experiments reported here were done to determine whether the hypothesis would be supported (a) if the test rate were faster than that used by Suzuki and Rohwer or (b) if sentences longer and more complex than those used by them were employed. The recall data accorded with some predictions derived from the hypothesis. However, data from Ss' posttraining reports on how they learned the pairs suggest that Ss, particularly adults, often made up their own strings rather than using those provided, and raise the question of the adequacy of Suzuki and Rohwer's procedure for testing this hypothesis, particularly in adults.

Sentence effects and noun-pair learning: A developmental interaction during adolescence

Children learn noun pairs presented in sentences more readily than noun pairs presented alone; such a sentence effect is not found in college students. Two experiments were performed to evaluate the hypothesis that this discrepancy can be attributed to an interaction between experimental conditions and developmental level. In both experiments, subjects were drawn from five grade levels: first, third, sixth, eighth, and eleventh. The first experiment revealed a sentence effect at all grade levels, contrary to the hypothesis. The population sampled in the second experiment was chosen to represent that from which college-age subjects are usually drawn, and the expected developmental interaction clearly materialized. This outcome was regarded as implying that adolescence is a fruitful age range for investigating developmental changes in learning processes.

Changes in verb meaning and the sentence context effect in children's PA learning

Two experiments are reported in which sentence context facilitation of paired associate learning was examined. The major purpose was to determine whether semantic changes in the verb connecting a pair of nouns affects the facilitation due to the verb connective. It was found that trial to trial changes in the connective had no effect, and facilitation was as great as when the verb remained the same on each trial. These results were interpreted in terms of imaginal coding in multitrial experiments.

The effects of familiarity, imagery, and delay on recognition memory for noun pairs

Abstract Pairs of nouns comprising familiar or unfamiliar associations were learned by rote or with visual imagery. Signal detection measures obtained from immediate or delayed recognition tests showed associations learned with imagery were better remembered than those learned by rote, but that retention of familiar associations was no better than that of unfamiliar associations. Although retention declined with delay this did not interact either with familiarity or with method of learning. False alarms were higher for familiar associations in all conditions, but Ss who learned with imagery showed fewer false alarms than did rote learners, although the decline in hits over the delay was similar for both groups. This suggests that associations learned by rote or with imagery are unlearned at the same rate, but that imagery is more effective than rote learning in reducing competition from irrelevant responses.

Verbal discrimination learning as a function of associative strength between noun pair members.

Verbal discrimination learning as a function of associative strength between noun pair members.

Sentence contexts as facilitators of noun pair learning in children

Fifth graders were asked to learn noun pairs embedded in sentence contexts varied in terms of verb voice and grammatical relations. Also, their ability to reproduce sentence contexts for nouns was examined. Recall was prompted with both first- and final-position nouns. Results indicated that variations in deep structure grammatical relations but not surface structure complexity influenced noun pair retrieval. Subjects' incidental memory for the deep structure of sentences was substantial, suggesting that learners were noticing and making use of the meaningful relations aroused between nouns by the contexts. Various sentence generative strategies involving verb voice and noun prompt position were noted.

Sentence Mnemonics and the Role of Verb-Class in Paired-Associate Learning

The effectiveness of sentence mnemonics in facilitating noun pair learning was examined as a function of the grammatical restrictiveness of the connecting verb. Noun pairs were presented in transitive, transitive-causative, and intransitive sentences or by themselves for learning. No effect due to type of sentence was found. However, presenting sentence mnemonics, regardless of structure, produced significant interference with learning. The role of idiosyncratic mnemonics formed by Ss was discussed. In addition the relation between rated imagery and meaningfulness of the sentence and learning was examined.

Antonym adjective contexts and the facilitation of noun-pair learning in children

Second and sixth graders were asked to learn noun pairs linked by various types of verbal connectives: verbs, unmarked and marked comparative adjectives, polar antonym adjective pairs, and conjunctions. Results indicated that all contexts produced better learning than conjunctions, that comparative adjective effects were comparable to verb effects, and that both of these sentence contexts were superior to the polar-pair condition which consisted of conjoined noun phrases. Also, in all conditions, first- and final-position nouns were found to prompt equivalent recall. Results provide compelling evidence for the operation of adjective structures as mnemonic organizers in younger as well as older children, and they challenge imagistic accounts of the verb facilitation effect.

NOUN-PAIR LEARNING IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS: UNDERLYING STRINGS AND RETRIEVAL TIME

SUZUKI, NANCY S. Noun-Pair Learning in Children and Adults: Underlying Strings and Retrieval Time. CmILD DEVELOPMENT, 1972, 43, 299-307. Children learn noun pairs more efficiently in noun-verb-noun-conjunctionpronoun (NVNCP) contexts than in noun-conjunction-noun-verb-pronoun (NCNVP) contexts. However, the performance of college students does not differ as a function of context type. Pacing rate at retrieval was manipulated in the present investigation to assess a possible explanation of this difference. The design included 2 3 x 3 x 4 factorials, 1 for each age group. The principal variables were Pacing Rate (2 sec vs. 3 sec vs. 6 sec); Context Type (NCNVP vs. NVNCP vs. control); and Trials. Pacing rate at retrzeval was not relevant to the presence or absence of a difference in performance associated with context type.

The role of familiarity and of learning instructions in the recall of paired-associates

Two groups of subjects, one using a mnemonic technique, and the other, a rote method, learned lists of paired-associates of common nouns. Half of the noun pairs were familiar associations, and half, unfamiliar associations. The mnemonic technique improved only the recall of unfamiliar associations, and ratings obtained from mnemonic subjects suggested that this was due to the inhibiting of development of new associations by existing familiar associations. An examination of subjects' errors revealed that while those for rote subjects tended to be high associates of the stimulus word, this tendency was less marked for the mnemonic subjects. This suggested that the better recall of familiar associations was due to response bias, but that the better recall of material learned with the aid of a mnemonic was due to better storage.

Word imagery modalities and associative learning in blind and sighted subjects

Paired-associate lists consisting of nouns rated as high or low in auditory and visual imagery were learned by blind and sighted subjects. The associative recall performance of blind subjects was positively affected by auditory but not visual word imagery, whereas the reverse occurred for sighted subjects. These results suggest that learning was mediated by modality-specific images evoked by the noun pairs.

Recall of nouns in sentences as a function of noun and verb meaning changes

Bobrow (1970) demonstrated that improvement in recall of noun pairs in repeated sentences is a function of the similarity of the meanings of the repeated sentences. However, he partially confounded changes in meanings due to nouns and verbs. The present experiment demonstrated that verb meaning changes were more detrimental to recall of the noun pairs than were noun meaning changes.

Sentence mnemonics and noun pair learning

The effects of mnemonic usage on learning of noun pairs was examined by varying the opportunity to encode idiosyncratically and by supplying different types of sentence mnemonics. The sentence mnemonics involved linking the noun pair by a conjunction (CS) or a verb (VS). It was expected that the VS mnemonics would facilitate learning when the opportunity to idiosyncratically encode was reduced. Contrary to expectations both the CS and VS mnemonics interfered with learning regardless of the opportunity for idiosyncratic encoding. However, in agreement with other research the VS mnemonics facilitated learning of fifth graders. An analysis of reports suggests the adults in the control group constructed idiosyncratic mnemonics which were more effective than the sentence. Furthermore, a large proportion of Ss receiving sentences reported forming other mnemonics for the pairs, a process which could interfere with performance.

Effects of eye movements on the rate of discovery and the vividness of visual images

Two studies investigated the effects of eye movements on the rate of discovery and the vividness of visual images. Eye movements were manipulated by having three conditions: (1) The Ss were instructed to make eye movements while generating images to noun pairs; (2) the Ss were instructed not to make eye movements, but to think about making eye movements while generating images to noun pairs; (3) the Ss were instructed not to make eye movements and not to think about making eye movements while generating images to noun pairs. In addition, the ease of generating images was manipulated by using noun pairs that differed in their image-evoking capacity; five of the noun pairs consisted of high imagery-evoking nouns and five consisted of low imagery-evoking nouns. The two experiments were similar, with the exception that a between-groups design was used in Experiment 1, whereas Experiment 2 employed a within-Ss design. The results of both experiments showed highly significant effects of noun-pair type on both the rate of discovery and the vividness of images, with the fastest and most vivid images occuring to the high-imagery noun pairs. The effects of the eye-movement conditions on the rate of discovery and the vividness of the images were not significant in either experiment, and these findings are discussed in terms of the relationship of ocular activity to imagery.

Discrimination learning of pictures and words

A verbal discrimination (VD) study-test procedure was used to compare discrimination learning of 14 pairs of pictures, concrete nouns, and abstract nouns. Pictures were significantly easier to discriminate than concrete nouns, which in turn produced significantly fewer errors than abstract noun pairs. The results were attributed to the relative image-arousing capacity of the three types of items, and implications for the frequency theory of VD learning were discussed.