The idea was explored that different subjects may use qualitatively different encoding strategies with the same information presented within the same experimental situation. The premise was also studied that different strategies may be evoked by subtle differences in advance instructions or in the context of the task. (Author/MH)

A group of 73 normal children (ages 8 to 10) was compared to 49 age-matched developmentally dyslexic children of average intelligence on the California Verbal Learning Test for Children (CVLT-C), to determine if reading disability was associated with impaired verbal memory. Dyslexics differed significantly from controls on 9 of the 12 CVLT-C…

Concludes that information retention varies with subjects' reactions to feedback and the kind of immediate practice. (RB)

Research supported by grants HD-01888 and HD-01136 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and grant No. GS-541 from the National Science Foundation.

This reports the effects of the number of relevant stimulus dimensions and figural versus verbal stimuli on the concept learning ability of college students. Results force a consideration of mediational variables in explaining this form of cognitive learning. A set of verbal materials analogous to a set of dimensionalized figural materials was…

This investigation examined in the laboratory the type of learning commonly found in the school situation--the formalized acquisition of concepts. A verbal concept-learning task suitable for college students was devised which permitted the externalizing and quantifying of behavior at 6 points in the learning process. A pilot study evaluated the…

The theoretical functions of external feedback in SR and closed loop models of verbal learning are presented. Contradictory predictions from the models are tested with a three by three factorial experiment including three types of feedback and three amounts of rehearsal. There were 90 adult students run individually and they were required to learn…

The study demonstrates: (1) the occurrence of verbal mediation with its facilitory effect, and (2) the interfering effect of verbal satiation on mediational processes in a three-state chaining paradigm. 40 preschool children were randomly assigned to either a control (no satiation) or an experimental (satiation) group. The subjects in the control…

Previous research has found that spoken rehearsal is superior to silent rehearsal during verbal discrimination learning. The frequency theory posits that verbal discrimination (VD) learning improves as the frequency differential between the correct and incorrect member of each pair increases. Erlebacher, Hill, and Wallace (1967) tested this…

This study tests the hypothesis that labeling facilitates recall in nursery school children if and only if it leads to rehearsal. Subjects were 34 children ranging in age from 47 to 53 months. During pretraining, those children in the Label group named pictures of animals and fruits as they were presented, while those in the No Label group matched…

The study is based on the assumption that certain noncognitive factors influence the learning process, and attempts to tentatively isolate what such variables might be. Subjects were 93 students enrolled in a General Psychology course. Each completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and was then assigned randomly to one of 4 treatment groups: (1)…

The study was intended to determine the effect of the mode of verbalization of a discovered generalization on short-term retention of ability to use the generalization. Fifty preservice elementary teachers were assigned to one of the five verbalization methods: speaking, listening, writing, reading, or no verbalization. Each performed on six…

Twenty mentally retarded children (mean age 10 years) and 40 nonretarded children (grades 2 and 5) learned pairs of pictures in a single-function order (terms of each pair were in the same position throughout) or in a double-function order (all items were re-paired). (Author)

Three new experiments concerning the depth-of-processing view demonstrate that repetition at the phonemic depth of processing does facilitate memory, regardless of whether the repetitions are massed or distributed and regardless of whether the dependent variable is uncued recall, cued recall or recognition. (Author/RM)