HUMAN CLASSICAL-CONDITIONING OF VISUAL COMPOUND STIMULI IN PAIRED-ASSOCIATE TASKS

College students in introductory psychology participated in four exper iments to investigate the salience of color versus figure elements of paired associates. The study also reviewed the process of learning pai red associates within the context of first-order simultaneous classica l conditioning. In Exp. 1, four separate classes received different tr eatments concerning the position and type of stimulus element (color o f figure) they were instructed to recall. There were seven trials with a 30-min. delay between the sixth and seventh trials. The results ind icated that the groups who were required to remember the figure elemen t of the pairs, significantly out-performed the color groups and also learned the pairs much faster. Also, there was a sharp rise in mean co rrect responses remembered after a 30-min. delay for the group require d to recall the color element of the paired associates. Exp. 2 was a w ithin-subjects compar ison of the effectiveness of the color and figur e elements as stimuli. Again, the figures elicited more correct respon ses than colors. Exp. 3 tested the effectiveness within subjects of th e stimulus elements as response factors. As responses, however, there were no significant differences in the number of correct answers when recalling color or figure elements until the 30-min. delay between Tri als 6 and 7. As expected in Exp. 4, figures elicited significantly mor e functional descriptions than did colors, suggesting that figures pos sess a logographic nature which acts as a mnemonic device aiding in th e memory of stimuli and responses.