Verbal-discrimination learning: Familiarization of common and uncommon words.

Abstract

Verbal-discrimination (VD) acquisition of 30 pairs of high (H) or low (L) frequencyEnglish words was compared following 1, 3, or 9 relevant (H) or irrelevant (i) familiarization exposures, L lists were learned more quickly than H lists. Performance was poorer in H-R than H-I, but L-R and L-I did not differ significantly. R familiarization training for x. lists is held to stabilize encoding of items and thus offset detrimental effects of accrued frequency. Free recall following VD learning showed different patterns of variable effects than VD acquisition; learning which permits recall of items does not facilitate VD performance.

Discrimination learning as a function of differences in materials: A proposed explanation

“…The results also substantiate our notion that Weber's law (as applied to the frequency judgment situation) holds only for materials which have meaning for Ss, which ! may in turn help to account for the fact that word frequency has not been found to be a potent variable in verbal discrimination learning (see also Love1ace, 1969, andLovelace &Pulley, 1972, for a similar interpretation).…”