Stimulus pronunciability and aural paired-associate learning

An experiment was conducted in an attempt o assess the merits of a stimulus avail-ability interpretation of stimulus pronunciability (PR) effects in aural paired-associate learning. Stimulus PR was varied within lists of 8 trigram-adjectlve pairs. The study-test technique was used. The intra-SR interval of study trials was either 2, 4, or 6 sec, thus allowing periods of different length in which to manipulate stimulus availability at the time of the response event. Subgroups of Ss either counted backwardly during this interval, repeated the stimulus aloud, or were left uninstructed. Stimulus recall was given at the end of learning without forewarning. The results indicate that stimulus repetition efficiently serves to maintain availability over the intra-SR interval. Counting backwardly during this interval, however, markedly impedes acquisition, but not differentially from the stimulus-repetition condition over levels of PR as would be expected from short-term retention studies involving pro-nunciability as a variable. The failure of the three intra-SR activities to interact over levels of PR both during acquisition and in post-acquisition stimulus recall makes differentiai availability (in the sense of recallability) according to PR an untenabl