ABSTRACT
Paired-associate learning (PA) has been studied as a function of many variables but little attention has been given to relationships among different S-R pairs. The purpose of this exploratory effort was to determine relationships between the number of S-R pairs related by a common principle, learning rate, and transfer. The materials to be learned consisted of twelve pair lists. Each stimulus had a property relating to shape, border, shading, outline, and color. Four colors and eight values of each of the other four attributes were used. The use of symbolism makes mathematics learning more efficient when the constituent symbols and grammatical combining rules have previously been mastered. Symbols, of course, also serve the practical function of requiring less space in printing. The main purpose of this research was to help identify the underlying causes of generalization from one instance of a rule or strategy to another.
