Abstract
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.
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This work was supported in part by a Research Career Award from the National Institute of Mental Health and a grant from the Army Research Institute for Behavioral and Social Sciences, both to the third author. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Army. We wish to thank Shannon Young and Paulette LeClaire for assisting with this research and Charles J. Krauskopf for obtaining the aptitude measures. Yung Che Kim is Professor of Psychology, Keimyung University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
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Kim, Y.C., Broyles, J.W. & Marx, M.H. Transfer as a function of shifts in task difficulty in verbal discrimination learning. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 18, 142–144 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333586
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333586