Effects of high and low frequency differentials on verbal discrimination learning

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of two background frequency differentials on verbal discrimination learning. Two 16 item-word lists were constructed. In the high differential (HD) list were word pairs in which the relative background frequency of the two words in each pair was at least 5 to 1. The low differential (LD) list was made up of word pairs in which the frequency differential was 2 to 1 or less. The experiments investigated the difference in learning rates between the HD and LD conditions. High frequency word correct (HL) and low frequency word correct (LH) conditions were also examined. Results were evaluated not only on the number of correct responses, but also on the uncertainty remaining after each trial. The HD condition was found to be easier to learn than the LD at the .10 level of significance; the HL condition was significantly easier than the LH at the .05 level. Overall, the background frequency of words influenced VD learning such that learning appeared to ·be faster with HD word pairs in which the H word had been designated as correct.

Department dc:contributor.department

Operations Research and Administrative Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School

Year dc:date.issued

1973

Author dc:creator

• Kemlein, Donald Fleetwood

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Arima, James K.

Statement dc:rights

• This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10945/16584

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/16584