1. PSY 445: Learning & Memory
Nonsense!
Chapter 6:
Verbal Learning

2. 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

3. A pioneer of the scientific study of memory
Hermann Ebbinghaus
( )
Worked as philosopher at University in Berlin
Experiments published in classic volume entitled: ‘Über das Gedächtnis’ (1885)

4. His goal: study memory in ‘pure’ form
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 

5. Verbal Learning foh jur bok taw
xiz
guj
vol
raq
kec
mey
hib
qez
Ebbinghaus 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.

6. Ebbinghaus' Experiments
Serial Learning Experiments
Learning to criterion
Ebbinghaus 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

7. Verbal Learning Savings Score foh jur bok taw
xiz
guj
vol
raq
kec
mey
hib
qez
Measuring Memory (Retention)
Savings Score
Number of Trials to Learn – Number of Trials to Relearn
X 100
Number of Trials to Learn
(Multiplying by 100 makes the score a percentage)

8. Ebbinghaus' Serial Learning Experiments: Important Findings
Recollection of words drops dramatically during the first hour of learning
Ebbinhaus’ Forgetting Curve 

9. 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)

10. 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 

11. Types of Interference 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)
Time Time Test Interference
Study French Study Spanish Recall Spanish Proactive
Study French Study Spanish Recall French Retroactive

12. Serial Position Effect
Zhao (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 interference
Results
Strong primacy effect only
Interpretation
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

13. Serial Position Curve
Murdock (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 memory
Primacy
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 memory
Recency
The last few words are still in short-term memory at the time of recall

14. Item-to-Item Association Theory
Serial Learning
Item-to-Item Association Theory
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: 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.

15. Serial Learning Ebbinghaus’ Remote Association Theory A B C D E
Later, Ebbinghaus discovered that associations also form between non-adjacent items. He called these remote associations.

16. Serial Learning Ebbinghaus’ Remote Association Theory A B C D E
Remote associations are weaker than direct associations. After saying A, you have a stronger tendency to say B than to say C.
Remote associations cause errors early in practice. With more practice trials, direct associations gain more strength than remote associations.

17. Serial Learning Ebbinghaus’ Remote Association Theory A B C D E
The greater the time gap between two items, the weaker will be the remote association between them.
For example, suppose each item appeared for 5 seconds.

18. Serial Learning Ebbinghaus’ Remote Association Theory A B C D E
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.

19. Item-to-Item Association Theory: Criticisms
Lashley (1951)
Item-to-item associations would be too slow to accommodate quick, skilled, and unified behaviors
Well-learned sequences, like playing notes on a piano, are performed too fast to be the result of item-to-item associations
Must be earlier anticipation and activation of responses prior to their being performed than would occur from the immediately preceding items
Well-learned items seem to be grouped

20. Remote Association Theory: Support
Rubin (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

21. Serial Learning: Learning Items and Their Positions
Sequence Issues
Serial learning requires both learning of item and also remembering its position in the list
Partial forgetting is a real life problem
Eyewitness memory issue – remembering it happened but misrecalling when
List Issues
Remembering correct position but confusing which list it is in
Hintzman, Block, & Summers (1973)
See next slide 

22. Serial Learning: Learning Items and Their Positions
Hintzman, Block, & Summers (1973)
Procedure
Presented four lists in succession
Participants had to recall which list and its serial position in the list
Results
List: recall not good
Position: recall good
Interpretation
We often experience partial forgetting

23. Paired Associate Learning
In this paradigm – people memorize pairs of items (BIRD-GLOVE):
AB – the first item (A) is the stimulus and the second item (B) is the response A B

24. Paired Associate Learning
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.
Stimuli can be visual (like these) or verbal (pairs of words)

25. Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
Three tasks involved:
Stimulus Discrimination
Response Learning
SR Associating

26. Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
Stimulus Discrimination
Several 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 

27. Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
Lockhead & Crist (1980)
Procedure
Asked 5 year-olds to make a distinction between letters
Results
They initially show trouble distinguishing between b & d and p & q
However, 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

28. Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
Response Learning
Ease or difficulty in learning the paired-associate response items can vary
Meaningful response items are learned more easily

29. Analysis of Paired Associate Learning
SR Associating
Stimulus and response items need to become connected
Prior knowledge can facilitate or inhibit learning
Cognitive 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

30. Paired Associate Learning: Meaningfulness & Direction of Associations
This 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

31. Free Recall Both primacy and recency are present
In 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 material
Serial–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

32. Free Recall: Rehearsal
Rehearsal facilitates retention in these experiments
Keeney, 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 delay
Results
Recall was better for children who rehearsed the most
Later, had other child practice self-talk and their recall increased to that of the others
Interpretation
Rehearsal facilitates retention

33. Free Recall: Rehearsal
Ornstein, Naus, & Liberty (1975)
Procedure
18 word lists were recalled by children in the 3rd, 6th, and 8th grades
Results
Older children were more likely to use distributed rehearsal and recalled more words
Recall
Rehearsals

34. Free Recall: Rehearsal
Ornstein, 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

35. Organization See next slide 
Refers to using existing knowledge to group together items that are related in some manner
Associative Clustering
Related words are often recalled together
Subjective Organization
When words are not associated people tend to form their own personal associations
Categorical 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 well
See next slide 

36. 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

37. Available vs. Accessible Memories
These memories can be recalled or retrieved
Available 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”

38. Available vs. Accessible Memories
Cued 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

39. 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

40. Recall vs. Recognition vs. Relearning
Shimamura et al. (1987)
Procedure
Alzheimer’s patients and age-matched control group
Free Recall Test; Recognition Test
Results
Both groups did significantly better on Recognition Test
Alzheimer's group: 15% and 60%
Control group: 40% and 85%
Interpretation
Recognition is a more sensitive test as it seems to be detecting a type of learning that a recall test is missing

41. Recognition: Remembering vs. Knowing
We seem to possess both remembering and knowing types of memories
Remembering
For example, in academic learning students might remember a certain lecture or class discussion
Knowing
For example, students may know certain words, phrases, dates, etc. related to a discipline without recalling specifically how, when, or where they learned them

42. Relationships among Verbal-Learning tasks
Paired-associate learning and serial-learning tests are positively correlated
This suggests a common type of ability
Free-recall performance is unrelated to the other two
This suggests that different abilities or strategies are being tapped
Different methodology used
PA usually has multi-trial learning tasks; FR is usually single-trial
Capacity differences seem to be apparent between the two types

43. Application: Mnemonics
Various schemes, strategies, or procedures to aid encoding and retrieval (for example, acronyms)
Mnemonics Techniques
The 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

44. 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

45. Credits
Some of the slides in this presentation prepared with the assistance of the following web sites:
psych.fullerton.edu/navarick/verbal.ppt