This study investigated the relationship between transfer of training and shift in task difficulty for verbal discrimination learning. Also, it attempted to determine whether there are any differences in the tendency to make persistent errors in the two transfer conditions. Task difficulty was manipulated by varying the number of word alternatives, with either two words (easy task) or four words (hard task) in each word presentation set. Two lists, each with 26 sets of words, were presented for five trials. Each word set was shown for 1 sec, followed by 3 sec for response and 1 sec for feedback. A positive transfer effect in the hard-easy shift and a tendency toward negative transfer in the easy-hard shift were found. Transfer of training from one level of task difficulty to another has been investigated in a number of studies. A common fmding is that there is substantial positive transfer from the harder to the easier task and some negative transfer from the easier to the harder task. This result has been most often obtained for motor skills (Gibbs, 1954;Szafran & Welford, 1950), but Green (1955) found no difference in a tracking task. Also, as Helson (1964) has pointed out, there is no basis for accepting the generality of the relationship, because opposite results have also been reported (e.g., by Bevan & Saugstad, 1955, using a psychophysical weight discrimination task, and by Lawrence, 1952, working with visual discrimination in animals).The primary purpose of this experiment was to investigate the relationship between transfer of training and the shift in task difficulty (e.g., hard to easy or easy to hard) for verbal discrimination learning (VDL). Positive transfer from VDL to paired associate learning has been reported (Battig & Huang, 1971), and the effectiveness of prior learning-to-Iearn experience has been demonstrated (Mueller, Bamber, & Lissa, 1973;Mueller, Hughes, & Pickering, 1974). Positive transfer over several verbal lists, whether of the same or different type, has also been shown (Underwood, Shaughnessy, & Zimmerman, 1972). However, the nature of the transfer effect resulting from shifts in difficulty in verbal materials remains to be determined. Thus, the particular experimental question with which this research is concerned is this: Does the same relationship as has been demonstrated for motor-skill learning (positive transfer for hard to easy shifts and negative transfer for easy to hard shifts) also hold for VDL?A secondary objective of the research was to determine whether there are any differences in the tendency to make persistent, successive errors in the two transfer conditions. This tendency, labeled the stubborn-error effect (SEE), has been demonstrated in a number of previous verbal learning studies (e.g., Kim, Marx, & Qroyles, 1981;Marx, 1971;Marx & Marx, 1980; Marx, Witter, & Mueller, 1972).
METHOD SubjectsThe subjects were 17 male and 37 female students from the introductory psychology course at the University of MissouriColumbia. They were given credit for participating in...
