JOURNAL OF VERBAL LEARNING AND VERBAL BEHAVIOR 7,409-412 (1968) Short-Term Retention of Paired Associates as a Function of Instructions and Retention Measure1

Two sets of instructions (traditional paired-associate instructions and special instructions to mediate) and three retention tasks (free recall, modified free recall, and recognition matching) were used to investigate the unlearning of first-list associates when an A-B, A-C paradigm was used in a short-term memory (STM) situation. Experimental Ss were given 2 set per pair to learn two A-B pairs and two A-C pairs and then 10 set of interpolated number reading before a retention test was administered. Control.Ss learned only List-l pairs and had additional interpolated material to equate retention interval. Performance was poorer for the experimental group than the control group in all conditions except with mediating instructions and the recognition-matching task. These results provide evidence for unlearning in STM and provide further support for a two-stage model of unlearning. Underwood, Runquist and Schulz (1959) have described paired-associate (PA) learning as a two-stage process consisting of a response-learning stage and an associative hook-up stage. The former consists of learning the responses in the list, while the latter consists of attaching each response to the appropriate stimulus. McGovern (1964) suggested that two analogous processes may occur in un-learning. During List-2 acquisition, List-l responses may be extinguished, or they may remain available but become no longer asso-ciatively connected with the appropriate stimuli. Another possibility is that the re-sponses become unavailable while the associa-tive connections remain intact. McGovern (1964), and Garskof and Sandak (1964) used a recognition-matching task (RM) to test the availability of associative connections inde