Supplementary Report: Backward Learning and Stimulus Familiarization Inhibition in Children

Abstract

The present experiment was concerned, in part, with assessing the generality of findings obtained by Simon and Wood (1964) concerning the relative facilitation and inhibitory effects of prior PA stimulus familiarization on subsequent PA learning. Ss were 52 6th and 7th grade children. Results essentially supported those previously obtained with college students. The large attrition rate of Ss failing to reach familiarization list criterion suggests the fairly selected nature of the population of children to which these results can be generalized.

Effects of Meaningfulness and Familiarization Upon Backward Associations in Paired-Associate Learning

“…However, with 20 and 60 aterm familiarization trials the subsequent PAL was better for the group which pronounced terms than for the group which did not pronounce them. In the situations involving some negative transfer paradigms, familiarization inhibits the learning of backward associations as seen by Simon and Wood (1964), Cerekwicki (1964), andDeBold (1964).…”

Verbal learning in children: Implications for developmental research.

“…A number of studies using children have demonstrated mediational effects using assumed natural language habit links (Berkson & Cantor, 1960;Nikkei & Palermo, 1965;Norcross & Spiker, 1958;Palermo & Jenkins, 1964a;Simon & Carekwicki, 1964;Wismer & Lipsitt, 1964;Wu & Lipsitt, 1965). Both mediated facilitation and mediated interference have also been demonstrated with children as young as those of kindergarten age (Norcross & Spiker, 1958).…”