You just participated in two types of learning tasks: a serial learning task and a paired associates learning task.
Serial learning tasks were pioneered by Ebbinghaus. In these tasks, a list of words is presented (one-by-one) once, and then the participants are asked to recall the list of words in order. The dependent variable is the number of trials it takes (of presentations of the list) for the participant to learn the list correctly. The first task you completed was a serial learning task.
Paired associates learning was also a trademark task of early learning researchers. In paired associates learning, a series of pairs of words was presented. Participants were then given the first word of the pairs and asked to recall the second word. The dependent variable is the number of trials it takes (of presentations of the pairs) for the participant to learn the list correctly. The second task you completed was a paired associates learning task.
You are a behaviorist. How do you explain serial learning? How do you explain paired associates learning?
Originally published at http://www.sciencecases.org/behaviorism/behaviorism2.asp
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