The Effect of Verbalization of Relevant and Irrelevant Dimensions on Concept Formation*

The purpose of this study was to investigate both the relationship between verbalization and shift-learning and the possible prepotent stimulus dimensions of the eighty-four 7-year-olds used as subfects. Foio pairs of two-dimensional stimuli were presented to the children, for the discrimination learning task, in the following order-large black, small white: large white, small black: small black, large white: and small white, large black. The two types of initial discrimination dimensions were size (S) and brightness (B). Two types of shifts, reversal (R) and nonreverSal (NR), and three types of verbalization (no verbalization, one-dimension verbalization, and two-dimension verbalization) were also used. This created 12 treatment-groups into which the 84 children were divided. The scores from discrimination learning under the 12 conditions indicated that (1) the R group joerformed superior to the NR group, (2) the S group learned more easily than the B group, and (3)-no effect was due to verbalization conditions or to interactions. (WD)