Tests of three hypotheses about the effective stimulus in serial learning.

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Abstract
Three hypotheses regarding the effective stimulus in serial learning were tested. If associations are formed between items of a serial list, then these associations should transfer to a subsequent paired associate (PA) list composed of the serial items with the stimulus-response (S-R) arrangement of the PA list being consistent with the ordering of the items in the serial learning. Positive transfer was observed only early in learning. If the effective stimulus in serial learning is the two preceding items in the list, then when sets of two items are used as stimuli, positive transfer should be observed in a subsequent PA task. In this case, negative transfer occurred. Finally, if the position of the item in a serial list is the effective stimulus, positive transfer should obtain from one serial list to another when the item retains the same serial position; and negative transfer should obtain when the serial position is changed. It was found that items retaining the same serial position were learned faster than items which had their serial positions changed from one list to another. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
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