Table Of ContentTHE gpLE OF STIMULUS KEANIHG (m)
IH SERIAL VERBAL LEARNING
b^ ,
Clyde Spbl*
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in the Department of Psychology in the
Graduate College of the State
University of Iowa
Uune 1951
ProQuest Number: 10598623
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
uest.
ProQuest 10598623
Published by ProQuest LLC (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author.
All rights reserved.
This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
ProQuest LLC.
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346
ACraOWLEDGMEHT
fhe author is Indebted to Professor Ken
neth W* Spence for his advice and criticism
during the present investigation. He also
expresses his thanks to Professor Gustav Berg
maim for a critical reading of the section on
meaning, and to Professor Harold P. Beohtoldt
for advice on statistical matters.
ii
TABLE OF QOHOTTS
Gimp tar Page
I A Tfcteor e t i cal-Expe rime ntal Analysis of the
Attributes of Moaning, Familiarity, and of
Affeetivlty in Verbal Stimulus Material «... 1
Introduction .............. 1
An Analysis of Meaning .................. 4
An Analysis of Familiarity 19
An Analysis of Affeetivlty ............. 25
Discussion .................. 28
Summary and Conclusions ............... * 45
II Performance in Serial learning as a Func
tion of Stimulus Meaning (m) ......... 49
Introduction .......... * • .... 49
Procedure *.......*...... 54
lC::-, :H - Cl
Discussion ....«......... ...... ...... 75
Summary and Conclusions ........ 84
Referenees v ..A.#.*.*...**.#...*....**#*..** $6
Appendix A .... 93
Appendix B ..... 98
Appendix C ........ 103
Appendix D »..... 108
ill
TABLE OF TABLES
Table page
I Inter-Group Reliability Coefficients (r)
for m-Seale Based on Mean m-Values for""
Four**Groups of Ss .......7............. * 17
II Inter-Group Reliability Coefficients (p)
for f-Scale Baaed on Mean f-Values for
••*•*••.7..*.........
Four*Groups of Ss 24
III Xntergroup Reliability Coefficients (£>)
for a-Seale Based on Moan a-Valuea for Four
... . •. .7....
Croups of Ss 27
IV Analysis of Variance of Moan Trials to
Criterion of 7/12 Items Correct ............. @6
V Analysis of Variance of Trials between
Criteria of 7/12 Correct and 12/12 With
and Without a 2-Mln. Rest Pause at 7/12 71
VI Analysis of Variance of Items Recalled
on First Trial Following Criterion of
7/12 With and Without 2-Min. Best Pause
at 7/12.............. *...... 73
VXI List of Dissyllable Word® (Nouns) in Bank
Order of Increasing Meaningfulness (m) a®
Defined by Mean Frequency of Continued
Associations in 60 Sec» .......... 96
VIII List of Dissyllable Words (Nouns) In Bank
Order of Increasing Familiarity (f) as De
fined by Weighted Mean Eatings on Five-
Point Graphic Hating Scale ...... 100
IX List of Dissyllable Words (Noun®) in Rank
Order of Increasing Affeetivlty (a) as De
fined by Weighted Mean Eatings on*Four-
Point Graphic Rating Scale .... 105
iv
TABLE OP FIGURES
Figure Page
MWMMHvlBtMppMMMMWt' wmmmmmmmm
1 Schema illustrating th© development of
stimulus meaning .... 6
2 Schema illustrating the development of
more complex degrees of meaning ..... 30
3 Seattergram of the relationship between
familiarity (f) and meaning (m) ............ 35
4 Performance curves of mean number of
trials required to anticipate correctly
successive numbers of items with and
without 2-mln* rest pause of color-naming
introduced after reaching criterion of
7/12 correc t *. *............. ......*.....* 62
3 The difficulty-meaning relationship ......... 63
6 The difficulty-meaning relationship as
a function of pre-experlmental ability
level (Xi) ................................. 63
7 Empirical reaction thresholds for each
stimulus word as a function of its m-
value . •......»....... 69
8 Serial position effects as functions of
m-value ........ 74
9 Serial position effects as functions of
rest............ ......... 76
v
1
Chapter I
A Ti!EORiTXCAL*EY?IEIMEN^ ANALYSIS OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF
MEANING, FAMILIARITY, AND OF APPECTIVITY
IN VERBAL STIMULUS MATERIAL1
Introduction
Of Intimate concern to the production of research
data and to th© formulation of theory In psychology is th©
procedure of Identifying and quantifying the relevant vari
ables within its various domains. Such writers as Carr
(11), Robinson (©7), MoGeoch (41, 42), Dashiell (14), Mel
ton (46, 47), and Underwood (69) have emphasised the contin
uing need for this type of analytic research In the field of
verbal learning. To this endeavor they have given the name
^dimensional analysis.* Some of the Illustrative ’dimen
sions 1 which have been cited are the following: (a) mature-
tion-degeneration, learning-forgetting (41)j (b) present
stimulus-situation, previous experience (habits), genetic
constitution, set (14); (e) amount of discovery of a re
sponse, degree of discovery or of fixation of responses
1Th© experimental portion of this report was conducted
during th© writer’s temporary appointment as research psy
chologist with the Human Resources Research Center during the
summer of I960, The author expresses his thanks to th© air
men of th© Perceptual and Motor Skills Research Laboratory,
who rendered technical assistance throughout the Investiga
tion, and to Dr. Robert M. Gagne, Director of the Laboratory,
for his cooperation in securing subjects, space, and mater
ials.
2
already available to an organism, degree of motor or of ver
bal Involvement, relationship between a correct response and
the reduction of a prevailing drive state, and various •di
mensions1 of similarity (4?)•
Psychologists have used the term •dimension1 inter
changeably with variable, parameter, factor, condition, axis,
category, part, aspect, property, characteristic, attribute,
process, and situation* Frequently this usage has been en
tirely without regard to the mensurations! connotations of
th© term in question* For these reasons the concept of ♦di
mensional analysis,* already ubiquitous, has become extreme
ly ambiguous.
On© factor contributing to this state of affairs
would seem to be the persisting influence upon modern psycho
logical thought of the classical doctrines of the attributes
of sensation, such as those of Wundt, ICulpe, and ntchener*
Particularly was this confusion enhanced when the introspeo-
tional attributes were renamed by Boring (4) the **physical
dimensions of consciousness.** Suffice it to say at this
point that, In the present paper, whenever th© term ♦attri
bute1 occurs no allusion to Introspectlonal quale is
Intended•
Within a behavioristic frame of reference, Bergmann
3
and Spence (2) have defined dimensions, scales, and attri
butes as follows; Pimenaions are operationally <3©finable
properties of objects or events, while physical scales are
the result of the assignment of numerals to these defined
properties* Attributes are not dimensions in the physical
sense, but are properties defined by the differential re
sponses of organisms to physical objects or to events.
Psychophysical acalcs are the result of rescaling physical
dimensions by means of observer responses, while psycho
logical scales represent the metrlci&ing of attributes (in
dependently of known physical dimensions) by the responses
of judges* The distinction between attributes and dimen
sions lies in the fact that th© procedures defining attri
butes include certain operations performed upon other organ
isms (subjects, observers, or judges), while the operations
defining dimensions are performed entirely upon physical ob
jects or ©vents* The distinction between psychophysical and
psychological scales is essentially that in the former case
certain physical dimensions and scales are known, while In
the latter case they are not*
How one chooses to define such terms as th© fore
going is to a great extent a matter of taste* Th© present
author prefers to us© fvariable* a® a clasaal term to include
*dimensions* and ♦attributes* as special subclasses; to fol
low Bergmann and Spence in their usage of ‘dimension,* ‘at
tribute,* and ‘scale*; and to denote by *8* th© referents
’subject,' ‘observer,* or ‘judge* indifferently* The conno
tation of *S‘ will be evident from Its context*
Th© objective of Chapter 1 is a theoretical-
experimental analysis of three stimulus attributes; mean
ing, familiarity, and affeetivlty. Evidence reviewed In
such sources as MoGeoeh (42), Underwood (69), and Woodworth
(76) Indicate these to be potential relevant variables In
verbal learning* Quantitative analysis will provide the
scale values necessary to th© discovery of accurate function
al relationship® between these and other known psychological
variables* Certain of these relationships pertaining to
serial verbal learning will be Investigated in Chapter IX.
An Analysis of Meaning
The many problems of meaning have occupied the
attention of philosophers and of psychologists for a long
time* Some of those problems have been genuine, others
spurious* Inasmuch as it® necessary and sufficient opera
tions are both logically possible and empirically feasible,
it may be shown that at least one of these alleged issues
