Accounts of learning and generalization typically focus on factors related to lasting changes in representation (i.e., long-term memory). The authors present evidence that shorter term effects also play a critical role in determining performance and that these recency effects can be subdivided into perceptual and decisional components.…

The primary thrust of this book is the presentation of two divergent models of man, the explicit and implicit philosophical assumptions which characterize each view, the conditions of learning compatible with each model, and the educational implications of each position. An introductory section considers the two models of man--the phenomenological…

Four experiments (involving a total of 158 children) demonstrated observationally-induced learning effects on multidimensional conservation tasks using brief, single session training. First grade samples of middle class Anglo-American, and economically disadvantaged Mexican-American children displayed gains in vicariously-induced conservation as…

Two environmental learning conditions based on generative linguistics were tested to determine whether they could induce in children (in grades 1-3) the acquisition of the rules of metaphors and the subsequent generation of metaphors based on the acquired rules. The first modeling condition (MC-1) emphasized the verbal-interaction effect: the…

This study investigated the spontaneous use of verbal mediators in discrimination learning, the transfer of mediators to a free recall task, and the effects of a pretraining task on performance. The discrimination tasks required nursery school children (80) to: (1) sort three instances each of two different concepts in a conceptually consistent…

A basic unsolved problem in science is that of understanding learning, the process by which people and machines use their experience in a situation to guide future action in similar situations. The ideas of Piaget, Pavlov, Hull, and other learning theorists, as well as previous heuristic programing models of human intelligence, stimulated this…

The four experiments of this study represent the first stage on a program of research designed to clarify the nature and development of certain implicit verbal behavior and to move toward application of this knowledge to school learning situations and problems. Specifically, the experiments were created to investigate some aspect of the implicit…

The effects of observing a model and of providing a response rule on the learning, transfer, and retention of a dial-reading, numerical concept were studied in 144 third-graders. Different experimenters conducted the immediate learning procedures versus the measurements of retention. No extrinsic reinforcers were promised or dispensed. The…

This study assesses the effects of visual and verbal rehearsal on the problem solving efficiency of preschool children. The study examines the use of stimulus pretraining designed to induce verbal rehearsal and compares the effectiveness of induced verbal rehearsal with the effectiveness of induced visual rehearsal. Fifty-four middle class…

This booklet discusses the importance to adolescents and adults with mental retardation of learning how to respond correctly to the many variations in home, work, and community activities in order to be successful in integrated settings. The difficulties individuals with mental retardation have in generalizing skills learned in one situation to a…

Describes a computer tutorial that teaches the fundamentals of stimulus generalization in operant learning. Concepts covered include reinforcement, discrimination learning, stimulus continua, generalization, generalization gradients, and peak shift. The tutorial also reviews applications in human and animal situations. The content is appropriate…

IN ORDER TO DISCOVER IF PUPILS COULD ARRIVE AT THEIR OWN RULES OR GENERALIZATIONS FROM DRILL (THUS SUGGESTING THAT TIME BE SPENT MORE PROFITABLY IN ADDITIONAL PRACTICE THAN IN EXPLANATION), FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS WERE TESTED. FOUR FRENCH AND FOUR SPANISH HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES WERE SUBJECTED TO EXPLANATIONS (1) BEFORE THE DRILL, (2) AFTER THE INITIAL…