Visual-verbal-paired associate learning (PAL) is strongly related to reading acquisition, possibly indexing a distinct cross-modal mechanism for learning letter-sound associations. We measured linguistic abilities (nonword repetition, vocabulary size) longitudinally at 3.5 and 4.0 years, and visual-verbal PAL and letter knowledge at 4.0 and…

This study addressed two areas of inquiry: 1) the influence of enlisting three underlying cognitive learning processes (CLPs) in alphabet learning, and 2) order effects for letter name and letter sound instruction. Alphabet instruction was designed to enlist Paired Associate Learning (PAL) only, PAL plus Orthographic Learning (OL), or PAL plus…

This study sought to determine the accuracy of an assessment format in which selection outcomes were delayed and probabilistic; these are unavoidable features of an assessment designed to determine preferences of multiple children simultaneously. During the single arrangement, preference hierarchies were established by having a child repeatedly…

Reports three experiments which examined whether three- and four-year-olds learn simple letter-numeral pair associations incrementally or in an all-or-none manner. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that these items were learned in an all-or-none manner. (JMB)

Presents a study of imagery induction during paired associate learning by preschool children. Studies the effect of experimenter-generated interactions between the stimulus pairs to be learned, self-generated interactions, and a combination of the two, on imagery induction. (BD/BR)

Developmental and cultural factors in the use of imagery in learning and retaining specific paired associate tasks were studied in Anglo and Spanish American children. (ST)

Paired associate learning by children was studied as a function of age (4 vs 7 yr), stimulus type (line drawing, color photograph, or object), and mode of elaboration (visual or verbal). Results showed that objects and photographs both surpassed line drawings in terms of learning and that they did not differ significantly from each other. (SBT)

Language development in preschool children was studied using pairs of pictures with three types of verbal elaboration formed for each pair. After a training trial thirty children listened to one of three types of elaboration (simple sentence, compound or complex sentence, and paragraph). They were asked to name the corresponding response item.…

The question of whether or not a certain mathematical model is applicable to the paired-associate data of preschool children as well as adults was examined in five experiments. (Author/MP)

The ability of nursery school and first-grade children to learn and transfer a mediational strategy utilizing prepositional relationships between paired-associate objects was investigated under several strategy training conditions. (Author/JMB)

To continue exploration of the educational problems of deprived children, 32 disadvantaged and 32 advantaged children ranging in age from 4 years, 8 months to 5 years, 8 months, were selected to take a battery of tests designed to measure some of the skills and characteristics thought to be related to academic success. The factors measured and the…

Reported were two studies designed to clarify the effects of verbal elaboration on children's learning. Study I was undertaken to replicate, with controlled training times, an earlier investigation of the effects of three types of extended verbal elaboration (sentences, semantic paragraphs, and syntactic paragraphs). Trials to criterion analyses…

Investigated whether there exists a stage of development at which "imagery-inducing motor activity" ceases to be facilitative relative to the effectiveness of alternative kinds of associative-learning strategies. (Author/SDH)