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With the increased use of computerized programmed instruction, it is important to determine which methods will enable the student to benefit most from the computer experience. It has previously been found true in verbal‐learning experiments, and is shown here in regard to perceptual‐learning experiments, that complex procedures such as continual interrogation, overt response, immediate knowledge of results, and presentation of successive items conditional upon past performance have turned out to be less successful than a simpler, more direct, approach—the presentation and observation of paired associates.

designed the data insertion techniques utilized in the response panel constructed for the experiment. Donna L. Darley and Sheldon Boilen made important contributions in computer programming. This is the final report and concludes work on Contract AF 19(604)-8449. This report has also been issued as Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. Report No.

Earlier experiments on computer-aided teaching of the identification of nonverbal sounds showed an extremely simple procedure to be more effective than the procedures of automated or programmed instruction. Specifically, a procedure in which the sound-label pairs are just presented and observed, in random order, was superior to procedures that employed various configurations of continual interrogation, overt response, immediate knowledge of results, presentation of items in a developmental order, and presentation of successive items conditional upon previous performance. Two additional experiments have now been conducted in which the subject was able to choose freely, at any time, among the various instructional procedures, and to regulate the introduction of new materials. Granting such control to the subject led to no better final performance than that observed when the experimenter determined the course of the lesson. The results provide detailed support of the earlier conclusions: for example, success was highly correlated with the proportion of time spent on simple exposure, and negatively correlated with the proportion of time spent in active responding, receiving feedback, and making second tries. Three variables related to streamlining of the task and temporal contiguity of sound and label account for nearly 100% of the variance. [This research was supported by the U. S. Naval Training Device Center.]