Effect of degree of cue separation and stimulus encoding method on cue sample size and learning rate
A Thesis Presented to the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of the College of Graduate StudiesUniversity of Nebraska at Omaha In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts.
Abstract
The present study involved four groups of Ss learning a redundant relevant cue (RRC) concept. All groups were forced to verbally encode stimuli in a prescribed order and classify the stimulus as an A or B. Three groups encoded in a nongrammatical order in which the degree of RRC separation varied. The fourth group was balanced with respect to degree of RRC separation but used a grammatical encoding method. There was faster learning if relevant cues were in salient noticing positions than if they were not; encoding method did not affect learning rate. Finally, the closer the second cue was to the first cue learned, the greater the probability that it would be learned.