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Chapter 6: Verbal Learning
PSY 445: Learning & Memory
Nonsense!
Verbal Learning
The learning (or memorization) of lists of words or other items•Concerned with the acquisition and retention of such items in an effort to describe the basic laws of learning
A pioneer of the scientific study of memory
• Worked as philosopher at University in Berlin• Experiments published in classic volume
entitled: ‘Über das Gedächtnis’ (1885)
Hermann Ebbinghaus(1850-1909)
Memory experiments of Ebbinghaus:Focus on retention of newly learned material
His goal: study memory in ‘pure’ form•Invented lists nonsense syllables to minimize influence of meaningful associations and learner’s history
Nonsense syllables
Verbal LearningEbbinghaus rigorously controlled the timing, the order of presentation, and number of practice trials, all key factors in learning according to associative theory.
Amazingly, he served as his own participant! But his findings have been repeated countless times in conventional experiments.
Rather than memorize poems, speeches, or other writings, he created lists of artificial verbal units called “nonsense syllables” like the ones on the left. Each consisted of a consonant, then a vowel, then a consonant.
Ebbinghaus' Experiments
Serial Learning ExperimentsLearning to criterionEbbinghaus would repeatedly attempt to learn the material until he achieved a perfect reproduction (every item memorized in the order originally presented)“Method of savings”Subtracting the number of repetitions required to relearn material to a criterion from the number originally required to learn the material to the same criterion
Verbal LearningMeasuring Memory (Retention)
Savings Score
Number of Trials to Learn – Number of Trials to Relearn
Number of Trials to LearnX 100
(Multiplying by 100 makes the score a percentage)
Ebbinghaus' Serial Learning Experiments: Important FindingsRecollection of words drops dramatically during the first hour of learning
Ebbinhaus’ Forgetting Curve
Ebbinghaus' Serial Learning Experiments: Important Findings List-length effect
◦ Ease of learning and amount of information not related in linear one-to-one fashion
◦ Disproportionate increase in difficulty with more than 7 syllables
Serial Position (Primacy/Recency) Effect◦ Subjects are much more likely to remember items at the
beginning of a list (primacy effect) and at the end of the list (recency effect)
Serial Position Effect
Several hypotheses have been proposed:Anchoring•End items in a list serve as anchors•Kurbat, Shevall, & Rips (1998): student’s academic year
Rehearsal•Rehearsal patterns differ across serial positions•First items have less competition with other items for rehearsal; last items have extended rehearsal
Interference•Proactive and retroactive interference are effecting middle items the most See next slide
Proactive Interference •The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information (old materials increasing the forgetting of new materials)Retroactive Interference •The disruptive effect of new information on the recall of previous information (new materials increasing the forgetting of old materials)
Types of Interference
Time 1 Time 2 Test InterferenceStudy French Study Spanish Recall Spanish ProactiveStudy French Study Spanish Recall French Retroactive
Serial Position EffectZhao (1997)Procedure•Participants watched Super Bowl commercials; a few days later attempted recall•Thus, researchers were able to naturally vary the amount of proactive and retroactive interferenceResults•Strong primacy effect onlyInterpretation•With 55 or so commercials, there was a preponderance of proactive interference•Delays along with the large amounts of PI virtually wiped out the recency effect
Serial Position CurveMurdock (1962)Another hypothesis is that the primacy effect is the result of superior recall from long-term memory of the first few words in the list; whereas the recency effect is caused by recall from short-term memoryPrimacy
•The first few words enter an empty long-term memory and get proportionately more attention than the words in the middle of the list and can thus be transferred into long-term memoryRecency
•The last few words are still in short-term memory at the time of recall
Serial Learning
Applying the theories of empiricist philosophers, Ebbinghaus originally maintained that serial lists were learned by associating each item with the item that directly followed it:
Item-to-Item Association Theory
A B C D E
These connections between adjacent items are called direct associations. They form because of “temporal contiguity”: Adjacent items “touch” in time.
Each time the list is practiced, the associations between these contiguous items are strengthened.
Serial LearningEbbinghaus’ Remote Association Theory
A B C D E
Later, Ebbinghaus discovered that associations also form between non-adjacent items. He called these remote associations.
Serial Learning
Remote associations are weaker than direct associations. After saying A, you have a stronger tendency to say B than to say C.
Ebbinghaus’ Remote Association Theory
A B C D E
Remote associations cause errors early in practice. With more practice trials, direct associations gain more strength than remote associations.
Serial Learning
The greater the time gap between two items, the weaker will be the remote association between them.
Ebbinghaus’ Remote Association Theory
A B C D E
For example, suppose each item appeared for 5 seconds.
5 5 5 5 5
Serial Learning
A and D are separated by 10 seconds whereas A and C are separated by 5 seconds. The remote association between A and D will be weaker.
Ebbinghaus’ Remote Association Theory
A B C D E5 5 5 5 5
Item-to-Item Association Theory: Criticisms
Lashley (1951)Item-to-item associations would be too slow to accommodate quick, skilled, and unified behaviorsWell-learned sequences, like playing notes on a piano, are performed too fast to be the result of item-to-item associationsMust be earlier anticipation and activation of responses prior to their being performed than would occur from the immediately preceding itemsWell-learned items seem to be grouped
Remote Association Theory: SupportRubin (1977)
In long-term recall of material such as prose, poetry, or speeches – lines and phrases in the middle are sometimes forgotten
However, we can recall portions that come later and continue to the end
Remote associations may account for this
Serial Learning: Learning Items and Their PositionsSequence Issues
Serial learning requires both learning of item and also remembering its position in the list
Partial forgetting is a real life problemEyewitness memory issue – remembering it
happened but misrecalling whenList Issues
Remembering correct position but confusing which list it is in
Hintzman, Block, & Summers (1973)See next slide
Serial Learning: Learning Items and Their Positions
Hintzman, Block, & Summers (1973)ProcedurePresented four lists in successionParticipants had to recall which list and its serial position in the listResultsList: recall not goodPosition: recall goodInterpretationWe often experience partial forgetting
Paired Associate Learning
•In this paradigm – people memorize pairs of items (BIRD-GLOVE):
▫AB – the first item (A) is the stimulus and the second item (B) is the response
A B
Paired Associate Learning
Stimuli can be visual (like these) or verbal (pairs of words)
In the learning phase subjects see pairs of items.
In the test phase subjects see one item of the pair and must identify the other.
Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
Three tasks involved:Stimulus DiscriminationResponse LearningSR Associating
Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
Stimulus DiscriminationSeveral stimuli used in paired-association tasks; they vary in degree of similarity High similarity reduces discrimination and leads to higher error rate
Lockhead & Crist (1980)See next slide
Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
Lockhead & Crist (1980)ProcedureAsked 5 year-olds to make a distinction between lettersResults They initially show trouble distinguishing between b & d and p & qHowever, when they marked letters with a distinctive element they had better success Interpretation Adding distinctive elements can facilitate learning; could slowly phase these out later
Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
Response LearningEase or difficulty in learning the paired-associate response items can varyMeaningful response items are learned more easily
Analysis of Paired Associate LearningSR AssociatingStimulus and response items need to become connectedPrior knowledge can facilitate or inhibit learningCognitive elaboration – additional information can help stimulus and response terms
Pressley et al. (1987)Participants were better able to recall that were presented in the form of person/action sentences
Paired Associate Learning: Meaningfulness & Direction of AssociationsThis type of learning seems to benefit from putting meaning into the associations•Backward association (R S) not as effective as forward associations (S R)•However, practicing this format can help both
Free RecallIn this experimental procedure the subjects are asked to recall the items presented to them in any order they wish•Simplest way to test the effects of subjects studying verbal materialSerial–Position Effect•Both primacy and recency are present•Primacy is increased by slow presentation and if items are familiar•Recency is best produced when testing immediately follows list presentation; delays will cause this effect to be lost
Free Recall: RehearsalRehearsal facilitates retention in these experimentsKeeney, Cannizzo, & Flavell (1967)Procedure•Researcher presented six photographs to children wearing space helmets then pointed to three that the children were to remember; visor lowered•Researchers monitored self-talk of the children•Recall test after 15 second delayResults•Recall was better for children who rehearsed the most•Later, had other child practice self-talk and their recall increased to that of the othersInterpretation •Rehearsal facilitates retention
Free Recall: RehearsalOrnstein, Naus, & Liberty (1975)Procedure•18 word lists were recalled by children in the 3rd, 6th, and 8th gradesResults•Older children were more likely to use distributed rehearsal and recalled more words
RehearsalsRecall
Free Recall: RehearsalOrnstein, Naus, & Liberty (1975)Interpretation•Recall capacity develops with age•Rehearsal strategies are used more and more effectively as we age (distributed practice)
Naus, Ornstein, & Aivano (1977)•Age differences in recall can be reduced by getting younger participants to use more effective rehearsal strategies
OrganizationRefers to using existing knowledge to group together items that are related in some mannerAssociative Clustering•Related words are often recalled togetherSubjective Organization•When words are not associated people tend to form their own personal associationsCategorical Clustering•Putting words into categories can help with recall•Category prompting tends to facilitate recall by increasing access to categories of items that might otherwise be forgotten•Once at least one item form a category is recalled, often other items from that category are remembered as wellSee next slide
Tulving & Pearlstone (1966)
High school students listened to lists of 12, 24, and 48 words
Procedure & Results
Interpretation The effect of category prompting indicates that more was available
in memory than could be accessed by unassisted free recall
Available vs. Accessible Memories Accessible Memories •These memories can be recalled or retrievedAvailable Memories •Memories that contain learned information available in our memory store, but may not be retrievable (at least not at the present time)
Brown & McNeil (1966) •Referred to available memories as "tip-of-the-tongue”
Available vs. Accessible MemoriesCued Recall •Method of receiving hints to help with memory
Roediger (1973)Cue Overload Effect•Too many cues can negate advantages gained from initial cue•Several cues may compete with retrieval of the remaining words and bottle up the retrieval process
Recall vs. Recognition vs. Relearning Free Recall Test
Reproduce studied information Recognition Test
Locate previously studied items that are presented with unstudied (distractor) items
Relearning Test The initially studied items are relearned (after a delay)
and the amount of savings is accessed
The tests are not comparable and each produces a different type of measurement
Recall vs. Recognition vs. RelearningShimamura et al. (1987)ProcedureAlzheimer’s patients and age-matched control groupFree Recall Test; Recognition TestResults Both groups did significantly better on Recognition TestAlzheimer's group: 15% and 60%Control group: 40% and 85%InterpretationRecognition is a more sensitive test as it seems to be detecting a type of learning that a recall test is missing
Recognition: Remembering vs. KnowingWe seem to possess both remembering and knowing types of memoriesRemembering•For example, in academic learning students might remember a certain lecture or class discussionKnowing•For example, students may know certain words, phrases, dates, etc. related to a discipline without recalling specifically how, when, or where they learned them
Relationships among Verbal-Learning tasksPaired-associate learning and serial-learning tests are positively correlated•This suggests a common type of abilityFree-recall performance is unrelated to the other two•This suggests that different abilities or strategies are being tappedDifferent methodology used•PA usually has multi-trial learning tasks; FR is usually single-trial•Capacity differences seem to be apparent between the two types
Application: MnemonicsVarious schemes, strategies, or procedures to aid encoding and retrieval (for example, acronyms)Mnemonics TechniquesThe Keyword Mnemonic•Used to aid foreign language acquisition•A mediating word from your language that sounds like the foreign word is used Imagery Mnemonics•Visual imagery is used to help you remember things•Method of loci – “mental walk” used to help people remember sequence of things to do, etc.•Peg word–rhyming technique
Mnemonics: A thing of the past?
Acronyms are sometimes used; others not so much•External reminders (notes, lists, etc.) appear to be easier•Electronic memory aids have replaced mnemonics
Credits Some of the slides in this presentation prepared with the
assistance of the following web sites:◦ www.csupomona.edu/.../PSY335%20PPTs/Baddeley/
BChap8....◦ psych.fullerton.edu/navarick/verbal.ppt◦ www.csupomona.edu/.../PSY335%20PPTs/Baddeley/
BChap1....◦ www.psych.ufl.edu/~fischler/CP/CP_Retrieval_Sonja.ppt