Recognition of schema patterns following paired associate pretraining

Abstract

The effect of learning to associate schema patterns to representative or to unrelated-but-meaningful verbal labels was compared in a recognition memory test. A new type of representative verbal label, entitled a linguaform, which was statistically rather than descriptively related to a pattern, was also included in the comparisons. Associative performance by Ss required to learn to associate patterns to representative or unrelated verbal labels was superior to the performance by Ss required to associate patterns to linguaform labels. There were no statistically significant differences among the groups, however, on a subsequent recognition memory test. In addition, simple observation training was found to be no less effective upon subsequent recognition than label training. Several explanations were offered to account for this failure to replicate previous verbal label effects upon recognition memory.