A comparison of correction and modified correction procedures on the acquisition of a 12-unit verbal maze.

Acquisition of a verbal maze as a function of method of correction and number of alternate choices per unit.

“…2). These results are similar to those obtained by Thompson (6) in that significant effects for trials and first errors were obtained only for the correction procedure, but different in that the functions were linear. The difference between 12 and 24 units of length for the mazes in the two experiments probably accounts for the difference in results.…”

“…The 24-unit maze represents a learning task of considerably greater difficulty. The questionable validity of trials in comparing mazes (see discussion by Brogden and Schmidt [1], and Thompson [6]) and the lack of any reasonable hypothesis to account for the cyclical variation in number of trials to acquire the maze as a function of number of alternate choices place the fitted function in an indeterminate category.…”

“…The present paper is a report of two experiments: one a methodological study that has led to modification of procedure, and the other designed to extend knowledge about the method of correction in acquisition of verbal mazes of greater length and with a greater number of alternate choices per unit than studied by Thompson (6). PROCEDURE Experiment I.-This experiment is comparable to the experiment reported by Brogden and Schmidt (1) except that the mazes were constructed from 2-digit numbers instead of words representing spatial locus and that the response was written instead of spoken.…”

Effect of the number of alternative response choices on transfer and retention of verbal maze learning.

“…Some evidence for transfer aspects may be adduced from studies comparing correction with noncorrection procedures. Initial discovery is largely nonexistent in the latter and substantial improvements in time and errors are obtained (Ernst, et al, 1962;Thompson, 1958;Thompson & Brogden, 1958). The magnitude of improvement in each instance is well within the range obtained in the present study.…”

“…Studies of the acquisition of verbal mazes as a function of the number of alternative response choices per choice unit characteristically yield ambiguous results. Time and errors show linear increases with increasing choices (Brogden & Schmidt, 1954a, 1954bThompson, 1958;Thompson & Brogden, 1958) while trials are either constant (e.g., Brogden & Schmidt, 1954a), unrelated (e.g., Brodgen & Schmidt, 1954b), or weakly related to the number of choices (e.g., Thompson & Brogden, 1958). This discrepancy between measures has provided a basis for divergent interpretation of the effect of the number of choices on learning difficulty.…”