The learning materials consisted of lists of words or phrases and each list bore distinctly the connotation of a certain background of knowledge or experience. For example, one list consisted of words or phrases possessing a distinctly Civil War flavor, such as Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation, Appomattox, Secession. Other lists were composed of items which were related to the American Revolution, Colonial Period, Old Testament History, English Literature, Athletics or College Sports, Mathematics and Geography. Each list consisted of eighteen words or phrases and caution was taken not to use words that appeared in the resume or in the associational test, or words that would be likely to appear in the answers to these tests.The experiments were conducted as a group-test. The words were mimeographed on a sheet and placed face-down before the subject. When the signal was given the subject turned the sheet over and memorized as many of the words as possible in the time allotted. At the expiration of two or three minutes time was called and the subject wrote on the back of the sheet as many of the words as could be recalled, irrespective of the order of presentation. Two minutes were given for writing down the words which he was able to recall in the immediate test as well as in the subsequent recall.When the prior activity preceding learning consisted of the association-test, three mimeographed sheets were clipped together and placed before the subject face-down. The first two contained questions constituting the association-test, while on the third was the memory material. When the resume was used as the prior activity, each subject was provided with two sheets containing the resume, a third with questions based upon the resume, and a fourth containing the material to be memorized. Each subject was provided with the materials and required first to carry out instructions relating to the prior intellectual activity. After these tasks were performed, the subjects were asked at a given signal to turn to the sheet containing the material to be memorized and to learn as many of the words or phrases as possible in the time allotted. At the expiration of the allotted time, the subjects were asked to turn the sheet over and to write on the back as many of the words ai they were able to remember. The memorized lists were scored in terms of the number of words or phrases correctly recalled. Further details relative to the procedure can best be stated in connection with each experimental situation.The subjects participating in these experiments consisted, in the main, of collegiate students taking general psychology. But a number of high school and grammar grade students also participated. Something over a thousand subjects participated in the
It is a common assumption that the learning process is influenced by such illusive bodily and mental conditions as moods, attitudes, or sets, but the problem of devising a laboratory technique for controlling these conditions has proved particularly difficult. In two previous investigations, 1 one of the writers attempted to exercise some degree of control over the bodily and mental attitudes with which the subjects approached a given task by introducing prior to learning and to recall certain mental and physical warming-up exercises or by attempting to arouse a certain apperceptive system, set, disposition, or trend prior to learning and to recall. The objective data of these experiments seemed to point unequivocally to the fact that the prior conditions mentioned had little or no influence upon learning, but that, under certain conditions, these same factors may influence subsequent recall.The purpose of the present investigation was to obtain further data upon the relation of conditions prior to learning efficiency, and to employ a variety of conditions antecedent to the learning test. The purpose of the prior conditions was to arouse a certain emotional mood or set, and two different techniques were employed. In the first instance, we attempted to arouse an emotional set of joy or of sadness, by introducing prior to learning two different kinds of stories. The first kind, adapted from All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, and Beyond the * The writers are indebted to Mr. William T. Roever for assistance in collecting a part of the data.1 P. L. Whitely, The dependence of learning and recall upon prior mental and .Physical conditions, /. Exper. Psych., 1924, 7, 420-428. , The dependence of learning and recall upon prior intellectual activities, /. Exper. Psych.,
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