An experiment on the learning of "paired associates."

Abstract

"This paper describes a simple experiment of the 'learning' type which points to the comparatively short time and small amount of practice required for undergraduates in the laboratory to duplicate one of the exhibitional feats of a 'memory expert,"' specifically, studying a newly shuffled deck of playing cards for twenty minutes, and then, blindfolded, repeating the names of each of the 52 cards in order without error. The average freshman was able to equal the performance of the "expert" in 5.25 sittings of twenty minutes each. The reports of the students show that many different methods of learning were used, consequently they were not really working on the same problem. An "initial torpor" and a sudden "insight" were reported by most of the students. No significant relation between Alpha scores and learning was found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)