A Comparison of the Effects of Formal Similarity among Trigrams and among Word Triads.
Abstract
The central question of the report concerns the role of formal similarity in free recall of lists of trigrams and lists of three-letter word triads. Similarity was manipulated among trigrams by duplicating letters, and among triads by duplicating words. An initial study showed that lists of 16 letters were learned more rapidly than a list of 16 three-letter words. Therefore, in the major experiment, the Ss were given all appropriate elements on test trials so that only associative learning was required. The learning of the trigram lists was more rapid than the learning of the triad lists, the difference being maximal with low similarity. (Modified author abstract)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1973
- Accession Number
- AD0768018
Entities
People
- Benton J. Underwood
- Joel Zimmerman
Organizations
- Northwestern University