"Arts, Faculty of"@en . "Psychology, Department of"@en . "DSpace"@en . "UBCV"@en . "Mosedale, Donald S."@en . "2011-06-08T22:05:29Z"@en . "1970"@en . "Master of Arts - MA"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "The present study investigated the effects of verbal cues on the learning of visual sequences involving\r\neight elements.\r\nGrade two subjects were assigned to three experimental\r\nconditions and were given a learning task and a transfer task. The three experimental conditions involved\r\nthree types of training on a visual sequencing task and differences among the three groups were determined\r\nby performance on a posttest after training. The three training conditions were as follows:\r\n1. \"Look\" group. Subjects were asked to look at the elements in the sequence.\r\n2. \"Name\" group. Names were attached to the elements\r\nof the sequence as they were presented.\r\n3. \"Name and Ordinal Position\" group. Names and ordinal positions were attached to the elements of the sequence as they were presented.\r\nThe learning task consisted of a pretest, training according to treatment group, and a posttest. The transfer task consisted of a pretest and a posttest without specific training on transfer task elements.\r\n\r\nEach subject was put through a four-day cycle:\r\n1. Day 1. Learning task and transfer task pretest.\r\n2. Day 2. Training in visual sequencing according\r\nto treatment condition assigned.\r\n3. Day 3. Learning task posttest.\r\n4. Day 4. Transfer task posttest.\r\nThe findings of this experimental study indicate that attaching names and ordinal positions to the elements\r\nin a visual sequence facilitates the learning of the sequence. While the ordinal position factor did not facilitate learning to a statistically significant degree in the learning task, the sample data showed that the group using this cue did perform the task in fewer trials than the \"Look\" group and the \"Name\" group. On the transfer task, the performance of the \"Name and Ordinal Position\" group was significantly better than the other two groups."@en . "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/35322?expand=metadata"@en . "THE EFFECTS OF VERBAL CUES OF THE LEARNING OF VISUAL SEQUENCES by DONALD S. MOSEDALE B. Ed., U n i v e r s i t y of V i c t o r i a , 1967T A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS i n the Department of Educational Psychology We accept t h i s thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Jul y , 1970 In presenting th i s thes is in pa r t i a l fu l f i lment o f the requirements fo r an advanced degree at the Un ivers i ty of B r i t i s h Columbia, I agree that the L ibrary sha l l make it f r ee l y ava i l ab le for reference and study. I fu r ther agree that permission for extensive copying o f th i s thes is for scho la r l y purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by h is representat ives . It is understood that copying or pub l iea t ion of th i s thes is fo r f inanc ia l gain. shal1 not be allowed without my wr i t ten permiss ion. D. S. Masedale Department of Educational Psychology' The Univers i ty of B r i t i s h Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada Date J u l y . 1.970 ABSTRACT Chairman: Dr. P. Koopman: M o s e d a l e , D.S. \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 The E f f e c t s o f V e r b a l Cues on t h e L e a r n i n g o f V i s u a l Sequences The p r e s e n t s t u d y i n v e s t i g a t e d t h e e f f e c t s o f v e r b a l cues on t h e l e a r n i n g o f v i s u a l sequences i n -v o l v i n g e i g h t e l e m e n t s . Grade two s u b j e c t s were a s s i g n e d t o t h r e e e x p e r i -m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n s and were g i v e n a l e a r n i n g t a s k and a t r a n s f e r t a s k . The t h r e e e x p e r i m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n s i n -v o l v e d t h r e e t y p e s o f t r a i n i n g on a v i s u a l s e q u e n c i n g t a s k and d i f f e r e n c e s among the t h r e e g r o u p s were de-t e r m i n e d by p e r f o r m a n c e on a p o s t t e s t a f t e r t r a i n i n g . The t h r e e t r a i n i n g c o n d i t i o n s were as f o l l o w s : 1 . \"Look\" g r o u p . S u b j e c t s were asked t o l o o k a t the e l e m e n t s i n the sequence. 2. \"Name\" grou p . Names were a t t a c h e d t o t h e e l e -ments o f t h e sequence a s t h e y were p r e s e n t e d . 3. \"Name and O r d i n a l P o s i t i o n \" g r o u p . Names and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n s were a t t a c h e d t o t h e elements o f t h e sequence as t h e y were p r e s e n t e d . The l e a r n i n g t a s k c o n s i s t e d o f a p r e t e s t , t r a i n i n g a c c o r d i n g t o t r e a t m e n t g r o u p , and a p o s t t e s t . The t r a n s f e r t a s k c o n s i s t e d o f a p r e t e s t and a p o s t t e s t w i t h o u t s p e c i f i c t r a i n i n g on t r a n s f e r t a s k e l e m e n t s . i i i E a ch s u b j e c t was p u t t h r o u g h a f o u r - d a y c y c l e : 1. Day 1. L e a r n i n g t a s k and t r a n s f e r t a s k p r e -t e s t . 2. Day 2. T r a i n i n g i n v i s u a l s e q u e n c i n g a c c o r d -i n g t o t r e a t m e n t c o n d i t i o n a s s i g n e d . 3. Day 3. L e a r n i n g t a s k p o s t t e s t . 4. Day 4. T r a n s f e r t a s k p o s t t e s t . The f i n d i n g s o f t h i s e x p e r i m e n t a l s t u d y i n d i c a t e t h a t a t t a c h i n g names and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n s t o t h e e l e -ments i n a v i s u a l sequence f a c i l i t a t e s t he l e a r n i n g o f the sequence. W h i l e t h e o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n f a c t o r d i d n o t f a c i l i t a t e l e a r n i n g to a s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d e g r e e i n t h e l e a r n i n g t a s k , t h e samplie d a t a showed t h a t t h e group u s i n g t h i s cue d i d p e r f o r m t h e t a s k i n f e w e r . t r i a l s t h a n t h e \"Look\" group and the \"Name\" gr o u p . On t h e t r a n s f e r t a s k , t h e p e r f o r m a n c e o f the \"Name and O r d i n a l P o s i t i o n \" group was s i g n i f i c a n t l y b e t t e r t h a n the o t h e r two g r o u p s . Dr . P. Koo.pman, Chairman iv-TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. PURPOSE OP STUDY 1 II\". REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 35 I I I . HYPOTHESES AND RESEARCH DESIGN 7 Hypotheses 7 Research Design; 8 IV. PROCEDURE . 1 0 Subjects . 10 Materials 10 Method 13< V . RESULTS OF STUDY 19 VI. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION 29 Implications f o r Further Research 31-R E F E R E N C S S . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . 32 V LIST OP TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Mean Number of T r i a l s f o r Pretest and. Posttest and Group Gains on Learn-ing Task and Transfer Task 20 2. A Summary Table of Analysis of Variance on the Learning Task 21 3. A Summary Table of Analysis of Variance on the Transfer Task 22 4. Posttest Means, Adjusted Posttest Means and Adjusted Mean- Gains f o r Learn-ing Task , 23 5. Posttest Means, Adjusted Posttest Means and Adjusted Mean Gains f o r Trans-f e r Task 24 6. A Summary Table of Analysis of Co-variance om the Learning Task. 25 7/. A Summary Table of Analysis of Covariance on the Transfer Task 25; 8. t-Values f o r Contrasts Between Adjusted Group Means on Learning Posttest. . . 27' 9... _t-Values f o r Contrasts Between Adjusted Group Means on Transfer Posttest. . . 28 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge the cooperation and a s s i s -tance of Dr. E.N. E l l i s and the Vancouver School Board i n supplying subjects f o r the study. To Dr. R. Smith, my advisor, go my thanks f o r h i s patience and wise counsel over the past two years. I am g r a t e f u l to the members of my committee, Dr. P. Koopman (chairman), Dr. D. McKie and Dr. R. Mcintosh f o r t h e i r i n t e r e s t and assistance i n making t h i s thesis p o s s i b l e . To my good f r i e n d , A. Atkinson, whose understand-in g and humour helped me keep things i n perspective, goes my eternal gratitude. I also wish to express my appreciation f o r the encouragement and help given me by my parents and aunt. I t i s to them that I dedicate t h i s t h e s i s . CHAPTER I PURPOSE OP STUDY V i s u a l sequencing i s the a b i l i t y to c o r r e c t l y reproduce a sequence of elements previously seen (McCarthy & Olson, 1964). The term \"sequence\" i s here employed i n a s t r i c t , combinatorial sense. Cor-r e c t d i s c r i m i n a t i o n of the sequence A-B-C requires that the c h i l d not only i d e n t i f y the elements which compose the sequence (A-B-C), but more importantly he must also respond to the sequential r e l a t i o n s h i p between the elements (A i s f i r s t , B i s second, and C i s third) and d i f f e r e n t i a t e the sequence A-B-C from other sequences of the type B-C-A, and A-C-B. V i s u a l sequencing i s tested by r e q u i r i n g the sub-je c t to duplicate the order of a sequence of e l e -ments presented and then removed. The mastery of language by human beings i n d i -cates that they have, i n s o f a r as t h i s i s c a l l e d f o r , learned to express ideas i n a sequential way. More s p e c i f i c a l l y , i t has been suggested (Broadbent, 1958; Lashley, 1959) that the capacity to recognize sequen-ces of information i s a necessary condition f o r le a r n i n g human language. The capacity to l e a r n v i s u a l sequences i s d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d to the a b i l i t y to read ( P u f a l l & Furth, 1966) and s p e l l . Children 2 must l e a r n to discriminate \"between words such as ' \"was\" and \"saw\"; \" r a t \" and \" t a r \" . Since c h i l d r e n must l e a r n to form v i s u a l se-quences, i t seems l o g i c a l to ask what type of t r a i n -i n g w i l l best help them to form these sequences. I t also seems l o g i c a l to ask what type of t r a i n i n g i s most e f f e c t i v e i n e l i c i t i n g the tr a n s f e r of learned v i s u a l sequences to other v i s u a l sequences. CHAPTER II REVIEW OP LITERATURE AND STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 3 Much research has been done on the e f f e c t of attaching names to concepts to be learned or mem-orized (Cantor, 1955; McCarthy & Olson, 1964; Mc-Connell, 1964; Prehm, 1966; Pyles, 1932; Schaeffer & Gerjuoy, 1955; Witirock & K e i s l a r , 1965). These in v e s t i g a t o r s have found that the possession of names f o r s t i m u l i i n a le a r n i n g task g r e a t l y en-hances performance on that task. Prehm (1966) hy-pothesized that t h i s i s due to the f a c t that verbal l a b e l s made the s t i m u l i more meaningful, allowing the elements to be more e a s i l y i d e n t i f i e d . This hypothesis was based on a study of c u l t u r a l l y d i s -advantaged c h i l d r e n who were compared on two measures of concept attainment. Subjects were given e i t h e r v e r b a l , a t t e n t i o n , or control p r e - t r a i n i n g on stim-ulus materials used f o r t r a n s f e r task I, but were given no p r e - t r a i n i n g on tran s f e r task I I . I t was found that stimulus p r e d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n s i g n i f i c a n t l y a f f e c t e d subject performance e f f i c i e n c y on both tr a n s f e r tasks. Subjects i n the verbal l a b e l group attained the concepts i n s i g n i f i c a n t l y fewer t r i a l s than did those i n the other two groups. McCarthy and Olson (1964) found that on the large, highly 4 controlled norm group for the I l l i n o i s Test of Psycholinguistic A b i l i t i e s standardization, when subjects were being tested on the visual sequencing subtest, they often named the stimuli aloud as i f to assist their visual memories. Bateman (1968) suggests that i f the child does use verbal mediators on this subtest, he probably also does this i n his everyday contact with similar material. Pyles (1932) and later Schaeffer and Gerjuoy (1955) also studied the effects of verbalization on learning. Pyles (1932) instructed two groups of young children to see i f they could find under which of five nonsense figures a toy was hidden. Group 1 was given nonsense names for the figures and was encouraged to verbalize these names during the experiment. Group 2 was given no names for the figures. Pyles found that Group 1, which had names for the stimuli, learned the discrimination faster than Group 2 which did not have names. Schaeffer and Gerjuoy (1955) performed experiments to test the finding of Pyles that \"naming\" influenced discrimination learning by .providing auditory and proprioceptive stimulation which f a c i l i t a t e d d i f -ferentiation of the stimuli. They compared three groups of children on a task similar to that used by Pyles, i.e., locating under which of five nonsense f i g u r e s a toy was hidden. One group was given no names f o r the nonsense f i g u r e s , another group was given s i m i l a r names (Mogee, Modee, Mobee), and a t h i r d group was given d i s s i m i l a r names (Baba, Susu, Jeejee). No s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e was found between the group with s i m i l a r names and the group with d i s s i m i l a r names. However, when these two groups were compared to the group with no names f o r the nonsense f i g u r e s , a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e was found i n favour of the groups with s i m i l a r and d i s s i m i l a r names. Wittrock and K e i s l a r (1965) r e -cord f i n d i n g s s i m i l a r to those mentioned above and i n f e r that the naming of concepts f a c i l i t a t e d the tr a n s f e r of previously named concepts. Based on the r e s u l t s of these studies i t seems possible to suggest that i n the le a r n i n g of v i s u a l sequences, i f the subject i s given the names of the elements on t r a i n i n g t r i a l s , then improvement w i l l be greater f o r these same and also f o r other (trans-fer) s t i m u l i , than i f the subject merely looks at the elements of the sequence. The i n v e s t i g a t o r f u r t h e r questions the e f f e c t of adding another cue to the le a r n i n g of v i s u a l sequences. By s t a t i n g the o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n of each element i n the sequence to be learned, i t i s sug-gested that the l e a r n i n g of the v i s u a l sequence w i l l 6 be f a c i l i t a t e d . P u f a l l and F u r t h (1966) s t ress the importance of being able to i d e n t i f y elements and responding to the sequent ia l r e l a t i o n between the elements (A i s f i r s t , B i s second). Underwood (1949) and Schulz (1955) have suggested that the s e r i a l p o s i t i o n f a c t o r might be an important source of g e n e r a l i z a t i o n i n s e r i a l l e a r n i n g . The i n v e s t i g a t o r suggests that i n the l e a r n i n g of v i s u a l sequences, i f the subject i s g iven the name and the o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n of each element on t r a i n i n g t r i a l s , then improvement w i l l be greater f o r same and d i f f e r e n t ( t ransfer ) s t i m u l i than i f subject i s merely given the names of the elements. In the present study the i n v e s t i g a t o r intends to look at the e f f e c t s of v e r b a l cues on the l e a r n i n g of v i s u a l sequences. CHAPTER I I I STATEMENT OE HYPOTHESES AND RESEARCH DESIGN: Hypotheses I f verbal cues are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence (name; name and o r d i n a l pos-i t i o n ) , then the number of t r i a l s r equired f o r mastery of that sequence (learning) w i l l de-crease as the number of cues increases from no-cues to two cues. Subhypotheses a. I f names are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence, then the number of trials? required f o r mastery of that sequence w i l l be fewer than i f subjects look at the elem-ents. b. I f names andi o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n s are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence, then the number of t r i a l s required f o r mastery of that sequence w i l l be fewer tham i f subjects look at the elements. c. I f names and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n s are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence, then the number of t r i a l s required f o r mastery of that sequence w i l l be fewer than i f sub-jeats attach names to the elements. 2. I f verbal cues are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence (name; name and o r d i n a l pos-i t i o n ) , then the number of t r i a l s required f o r mastery of a sequence of d i f f e r e n t elements (transfer) w i l l decrease as the number of cues increases from no cues to two cues. Subhyp o the s e s a. I f names are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence, then the number of t r i a l s required f o r mastery of a sequence of d i f -ferent elements w i l l be fewer than i f sub-ject s look at the elements. b. I f names.and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n s are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence, then the number of t r i a l s required f o r mastery of a sequence of d i f f e r e n t elements w i l l be fewer than i f subjects look at the elements. c. I f names and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n s are attached, to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence, then the number of t r i a l s required f o r mastery of a sequence of d i f f e r e n t elements w i l l be fewer than i f subjects attach names to the elements. Research Design In order to t e s t the hypo.theses a 2 x 3 f a c t o r i a l design with repeated measures w i l l be used f o r both the le a r n i n g task and the tr a n s f e r task. The' two f a c t o r s w i l l be tests (pretest and posttest) and experimental conditions (look, name, name and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n ) . The reason f o r using repeated measures (pretest and posttest) ils to allow f o r comparison of the three groups\u00E2\u0080\u00A2before t r a i n i n g (pretest) and a f t e r t r a i n i n g ( p o s t t e s t ) . Analyses of variance w i l l then be performed sep-a r a t e l y on the l e a r n i n g data and the tr a n s f e r data to determine the e f f e c t s of the two fa c t o r s andi t h e i r i n t e r a c t i o n . CHAPTER IV PROCEDURE Subjects In order to t e s t these hypotheses, 115 sub-ject s were randomly selected from s i x d i f f e r e n t schools i n the Vancouver School D i s t r i c t . F i f t e e n subjects were taken from one class and 20 were taken from each of the other f i v e c l a sses. Subjects were selected from each c l a s s by taking every sec-ond c h i l d on the classroom teacher's r e g i s t e r . Grade two ch i l d r e n were used since i t i s at this: l e v e l that many tasks are presented that c a l l f o r v i s u a l sequencing a b i l i t y , i . e . , s p e l l i n g and read-i n g . Of the 115 subjects, four were not included due to absence from school. Materials The materials used were those required f o r the v i s u a l sequencing subtest of the 1961 Experi-mental E d i t i o n of the I l l i n o i s Test of Psycholin-g u i s t i c A b i l i t i e s (ITPA). For t e s t i n g the l e a r n i n g of v i s u a l sequences (l e a r n i n g task), eight blocks (one inch by one inch) with d i f f e r e n t p i c t u r e s on them were used. The p i c t u r e s were of a cat, a telephone, a bed, a spoon, a potato, a dog, a p e n c i l , and a hat. The c r i t e r i a f o r c h o o s i n g t h e s e p i c t u r e s was t h e f a m i l i -a r i t y o f t h e c o n c e p t s t o the s u b j e c t s and t h e f a c t t h a t t h e y were c o n s i d e r e d a p p r o p r i a t e by t h e a u t h o r s o f t h e ITPA. A p i l o t s t u d y i n v o l v i n g 2 7 oGrade two s u b j e c t s was c o n d u c t e d t o d e t e r m i n e what number o f e l e m e n t s ( b l o c k s ) would y i e l d a d i s t r i b u t i o n o f t r i a l s c l o s -e s t t o t h e n o r m a l d i s t r i b u t i o n on a v i s u a l s equenc-i n g t a s k . S u b j e c t s were p r e s e n t e d w i t h sequences o f 4, t h e n 5, t h e n 6, t h e n 7, and t h e n 8 b l o c k s . They were r e q u i r e d t o r e p l i c a t e e a c h sequence a f t e r o b s e r v i n g i t f o r 10 s e c o n d s . R e s u l t s o f t h i s p i l o t s t u d y i n d i c a t e d t h a t sequences o f seven and e i g h t b l o c k s r e s u l t i n a d i s t r i b u t i o n o f t r i a l s c l o s e s t t o t h e n o r m a l . I n t h i s p i l o t s t u d y , i t was q u es-t i o n e d w h e t h e r t h e r e s u l t s were due t o t h e l e a r n -i n g w h i c h took p l a c e w h i l e s u b j e c t s r e p l i c a t e d s e -quences o f 4, 5, and 6 b l o c k s o r whether t h e ap-p r o x i m a t e l y n o r m a l d i s t r i b u t i o n was due t o t h e f a c t t h a t s e v en o r e i g h t b l o c k s were p r e s e n t e d . Thus, a second p i l o t s t u d y was c o n d u c t e d t o e s t a b -l i s h w h e t h er o r n o t a v i s u a l s e q u e n c i n g t a s k i n v o l -v i n g s e v en e l e m e n t s would y i e l d a d i s t r i b u t i o n o f t r i a l s a p p r o x i m a t i n g t h e n o r m a l d i s t r i b u t i o n . T h i r t e e n Grade two s u b j e c t s were asked t o r e p l i -c a t e a sequence o f s e v e n b l o c k s a f t e r o b s e r v i n g i t for 10 seconds. Results indicated: that seven blocks did yield a distribution of t r i a l s closely approximating the normal distribution. For the purposes of this study i t was decided to use a sequence of eight, elements. On the f i r s t p i l o t study, seven elements yielded a mean of 3 . 6 ; t r i a l s , while eight elements yielded a mean of 5 . 7 t r i a l s . Since the sequences were presented with-out prior training and i t was assumed that t r a i n -ing would reduce the number of t r i a l s , eight ele-ments were used allowing.a larger number of t r i a l s for differentiating among the treatment groups on a posttest. For testing the transfer of visual sequences (transfer task), eight blocks with shapes on (one inch by one inch) were used. These eight-blocks had on them pictures of a square, a diamond, a triangle,;, a c i r c l e , a dot, a l i n e , a cross, and a star. The c r i t e r i a for choosing these elements was the familiarity of the concepts to the sub-jects and the. fact that they were considered ap-propriate by the ITPA authors. The exceptions to the l a t t e r criterion were the dot, the l i n e , the cross, and the star, which are not used i n the ITPA. However, the p i l o t study indicated that these concepts were of comparable familiarity to the c i r c l e , the square, the t r i a n g l e , and the diamond. As with the elements used f o r the l e a r n -i n g task a p i l o t study was conducted to determine what number of elements should be used to achieve a d i s t r i b u t i o n of t r i a l s most c l o s e l y approxima-t i n g the normal d i s t r i b u t i o n . In t h i s p i l o t study, seven elements y i e l d e d a mean of 4.0 t r i a l s , while eight elements yielded a mean of 6.1 t r i a l s . Since the sequences were presented without p r i o r t r a i n i n g , and i t was assumed that t r a i n i n g would reduce the number of t r i a l s , eight elements were used, thus allowing a l a r g e r number of t r i a l s f o r d i f f e r e n t i a t i n g among the e f f e c t s of treatments. Method Each of the 115 subjects was put through a i four-day c y c l e . Five groups of 20 subjects and one group of 15 subjects were used, randomly selected from s i x classes. Twenty was the maxi-mum number of p u p i l s that could be tested i n one day. The i n v e s t i g a t o r tested four groups while an a s s i s t a n t tested the remaining two. I d e n t i c a l procedures were used by the i n v e s t i g a t o r and the a s s i s t a n t . Testing was done i n the medical rooms or o f f i c e s of the schools. Day 1 On day one of the four-day cyc l e , each subject was i n d i v i d u a l l y given a p r e t e s t which con-s i s t e d of the l e a r n i n g task. Each subject was shown a sequence of eight blocks f o r 10 seconds being t o l d to \"look c a r e f u l l y at these blocks\". A f t e r 10 seconds the sequence was destroyed by the examiner who then asked the subject to \"make one just l i k e mine\". Each time the subject f a i l e d to r e p l i c a t e the sequence c o r r e c t l y , the examiner set up the same sequence again, asked the subject to.; look at i t f o r 10 seconds, and then, a f t e r destroy-i n g i t , i n s t r u c t e d him to \"make one just l i k e mine\". The number of t r i a l s required to r e p l i c a t e the se-quence was recorded. The subject was then presented with another sequence of the same elements i n a d i f f e r e n t order and i n s t r u c t e d to r e p l i c a t e i t using the same procedure as with the f i r s t sequence. Eaoh subject was presented with two d i f f e r e n t sequences of the eight blocks. Since 8i = 40,320, there was no problem assigning d i f f e r e n t sequences. The number of t r i a l s required to r e p l i c a t e the two se-quences was then added together. The purpose of t h i s was to give a high enough pretest score i n order that i t would be easier to d i f f e r e n t i a t e among the three groups a f t e r t r a i n i n g . On day one, subjects were also given the pretest f o r the t r a n s f e r task. This was given to each subject d i r e c t l y a f t e r completing the l e a r n i n g task. The pretest f o r the t r a n s f e r task was con-ducted i n exactly the same manner as the l e a r n i n g task. However, the blocks used were those with the p i c t u r e s of shapes on them, i . e . , the s t a r , the cross, the dot, the l i n e , the square, the c i r c l e , the diamond, and the t r i a n g l e . Each sub>-je c t was presented with two d i f f e r e n t sequences and the t o t a l number of t r i a l s f o r both was used as the pretest score on the t r a n s f e r task. The pur-pose of t h i s was to give a high enough pretest score i n order that i t would be easier to d i f f e r -entiate among the three groups a f t e r t r a i n i n g on the l e a r n i n g task. Day 2 On day two, a l l subjects i n d i v i d u a l l y received t r a i n i n g i n v i s u a l sequencing according to the treatment groups to which they had been assigned. Subjects were given t r a i n i n g i n the same order, as they had been pretested. The purpose of keeping them i n t h i s order was to maximize the p r o b a b i l i t y of them having the same amount of time between pretest and t r a i n i n g . Subjects were as-signed to treatment groups i n the order i n which they came f o r t r a i n i n g , i . e . , subject one was i n \"Look\" group, subject two was i n \"Name\" group, subject three was i n \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group, subject four was i n \"Look\" group. The eight elements (blocks) used i n the t r a i n -i n g sessions were those used i n the learn i n g task, i . e . , the dog, the eat, the hat, the potato, the p e n c i l , the telephone, the spoon, and the bed. Each subject was tested i n d i v i d u a l l y and was presented with a permutation of the eight blocks. The number of t r i a l s required to r e p l i c a t e the sequence was recorded. The t r a i n i n g i n each group consisted of: 1. \"Look\" Group. Each of the subjects i n this: group was t o l d to \"look c a r e f u l l y at these blocks\". The examiner then placed the blocks before the subject. A f t e r observing the s e -quence f o r 10 seconds, the blocks were mixed up and the examiner ins t r u c t e d the subject too \"make one just l i k e mine\". A f t e r each i n c o r -r e c t r e p l i c a t i o n , the examiner again set up the sequence and repeated the i n s t r u c t i o n s . 2. \"Name\" Group:. Each of the subjects i n t h i s group was t o l d to \"look c a r e f u l l y at these blocks\". The examiner then placed the blocks before the subject saying the name o.f each as he put i t down. A f t e r observing the sequence f o r 10 seconds, the blocks were mixed up: and the examiner i n s t r u c t e d the subject to \"make one just: l i k e mine\". A f t e r each i n c o r r e c t r e p l i c a t i o n , , the examiner again set up the sequence as he had on the f i r s t t r i a l with the same i n s t r u c t i o n s . 3. \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" Group. Each of the subjects i n t h i s group was asked to \"look care-f u l l y at these blocks\". The examiner then placed the blocks before the subject g i v i n g the name and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n of each as he put them down, i . e . , \" f i r s t the dog, secondi the hat.....\" A f t e r observing the sequence f o r 10 seconds, the blocks were mixed up an& the examiner i n s t r u c t e d the subject to \"make one just l i k e mine\". A f t e r each i n c o r r e c t r e p l i c a t i o n , the examiner again set up the sequence as he had on the f i r s t t r i a l with the same i n s t r u c t i o n s . Day 3, On day three, a posttest was adminis-tered to a l l subjects i n d i v i d u a l l y . This posttest consisted of presenting two permutations of the eight l e a r n i n g elements to each subject. Each subject was presented with two d i f f e r e n t permuta-t i o n s . The f i r s t permutation was presented to the subject with the i n s t r u c t i o n , \"look c a r e f u l l y at these blocks\". A f t e r observing the sequence f o r 10 seconds, i t was mixed up and the examiner i n s t r u c t e d the subject to \"make one ju s t l i k e mine\". A f t e r each unsuccessful r e p l i c a t i o n , the sequence was again set up with the same i n s t r u c t i o n s used f o r the f i r s t t r i a l . A d i f f e r e n t permutation of the same elements was then presented. The same procedure was. used as with the f i r s t permutation. The number of t r i a l s f o r both permutations was then added t o -gether to give a l e a r n i n g posttest score. The pur-pose f o r doing t h i s was to y i e l d a score comparable to that on the pr e t e s t . Day 4 On day four, a posttest was administered to a l l subjects i n d i v i d u a l l y . The purpose of t h i s posttest was to determine the e f f e c t s of t r a i n i n g on a t r a n s f e r task. Each subject was presented with two d i f f e r e n t permutations of the tr a n s f e r elements, i . e . , the l i n e , the dot, the s t a r , the c i r c l e , the diamond, the square, the cross, and the t r i a n g l e . The same procedure was used as was used'with the lea r n i n g p o s t t e s t . CHAPTER V RESULTS In t h i s study, the response measure was the num-ber of t r i a l s required to r e p l i c a t e two sequences of elements. The performance of the three independent groups was compared on both the lea r n i n g task and the transfer task. In the case of the le a r n i n g task, the comparison was based on a posttest a f t e r t r a i n -i n g . Training consisted of r e p l i c a t i n g permutations of the learni n g task elements under three d i f f e r e n t t r a i n i n g conditions. In the case of the tr a n s f e r task, the comparison was based on a posttest without s p e c i f i c t r a i n i n g on that task. Since groups were randomly constituted, i t was assumed that the three groups would not d i f f e r on t h e i r pretest scores, and hence that differences among the three groups on the tr a n s f e r posttest would be due to the t r a i n i n g the groups received on the lea r n i n g task elements. Generally,, i t was hypothesized that i f verbal cues are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l se-quence, i . e . , name, name and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n , then the number of t r i a l s required f o r mastery of that sequence (learning task) and a sequence of d i f f e r -ent elements ( t r a n s f e r task) w i l l decrease as the 20 number of cues increases from no cues (\"Look\") to two cues (\"Name\";, \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" ) . Table 1 shows the mean number of t r i a l s required to r e p l i c a t e two sequences of elements f o r both the learnin g task and the tra n s f e r task. Table 1 also shows the gains made by the three groups on both tasks. TABLE 1 MEAN NUMBER OF TRIALS FOR PRETEST AND POSTTEST AND GROUP GAINS ON LEARNING TASK AND TRANSFER TASK Tests Learning Task Transfer Task Look Name Name Ord Look Name Name Ord Pretest 7.31 7.51 6.74 6.06 5.69 5.86 Posttest 4.89 3.49 2.97 4.69 3.46 2.71 Gain 2.42 4.02 3.77 1.37 2.23 3.15 Two-factor, repeated measures analyses of var-iance were performed separately on the l e a r n i n g data and the transfer data, the fac t o r s being tests (two l e v e l s : pretest and posttest) and experimental conditions (three l e v e l s : \"Look\" group, \"Name\" group, \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group). In order to have an exact analysis an equal number of subjects was required i n each of the groups. To achieve t h i s four subjects were randomly discarded from the \"Name\" group and two subjects were randomly d i s -carded from the \"Look\" group. The analyses were performed on a t o t a l of 105 subjects, with 35 sub-jects i n each group. The r e s u l t s of these analyses are shown i n Tables 2 and 3. TABLE 2 A SUMMARY TABLE OF ANALYSIS OP VARIANCE ON THE LEARNING TASK Source df MS F E Groups 2 27.04 6.06 < .005 Error (Ss. w. grps.) 102 4.46. Tests 1. 610.30 279.37 < .0005 Tests X Groups 2 12.92 5.91 < .005 Erro r (Tests X Ss. w. grps.) 102 2.18.: . TABLE 3 A SUMMARY TABLE OF ANALYSIS OP VARIANCE ON THE TRANSFER TASK Source df MS P \u00C2\u00A3 Groups 2 22.17r 7.44 <.005 Error (Ss. w. grps.) 102 2.98 Tests 1 256.22 176.48 <.0005 Tests X Groups 2 13.73 9.14 <.0005 Error (Tests X Ss. w. grps.) 102 1.50 As can be seen from Tables 2 and 3, on both the learning task and the transfer task, there were si g -nificant main effects of tests, groups, and Tests X Groups. The significant interaction of Tests X Groups indicates a significant relationship between the dependent variable (Tests) and the independent var-iable (Groups). Although the groups were randomly constituted, i.e., by taking every second name on the class reg-isters, the mean pretest scores for the three groups differed on both tasks. No rationale has been found for this unexpected phenomenon. Table 1 shows, the mean number of pretest t r i a l s for the three groups on b o t h t h e l e a r n i n g t a s k and t h e t r a n s f e r The i n i t i a l two-way r e p e a t e d measures a n a l y s e s o f v a r i a n c e would have been a c c e p t a b l e i f the p r e -t e s t s c o r e s had been \" t h e same\" f o r a l l g r o u p s . I f t h e y had, t h e n the s i g n i f i c a n t T e s t s X Groups i n t e r -a c t i o n would have i n d i c a t e d t h a t some group o r groups g a i n e d more t h a n o t h e r s . However, s i n c e t h e p r e t e s t s c o r e s were d i f f e r e n t f o r t h e t h r e e g r o u p s , t h e s e a n a l y s e s had to be abandoned and new ones had t o be done. I n o r d e r t o a d j u s t t h e p o s t t e s t means f o r d i f -f e r e n c e s i n p r e t e s t means, a n a l y s e s o f c o v a r i a n c e were p e r f o r m e d on b o t h the l e a r n i n g d a t a and t h e t r a n s f e r d a t a , u s i n g t h e p r e t e s t as t h e c o v a r i a t e . The p o s t t e s t means, a d j u s t e d p o s t t e s t means and a d -j u s t e d mean g a i n s a r e shown i n T a b l e s 4 and 5. TABLE 4 POSTTEST MEANS, ADJUSTED POSTTEST MEANS AND ADJUSTED MEAN GAINS FOR LEARNING TASK Group Mean * A d j u s t e d Mean * A d j u s t e d Mean G a i n * Look 4.87 4.86 2.30 Name 3.49. 3.41 3.78 Name/Ordinal 2.97 3.07 4.12 * These a r e mean t r i a l s TABLE 5 POSTTEST MEANS, ADJUSTED POSTTEST MEANS AND ADJUSTED MEAN GAINS FOR TRANSFER TASK Group Mean * Adjusted Mean: * Adjusted* Mean Gain * Look? 4.69 4.64 1.23 Name 3.46 3.50 2.37 Name/Ordinal 2.71 2.72 3.15 * These are mean t r i a l s The adjustment f o r i n i t i a l d i fferences on the pretest has not disturbed the ordering of the post-t e s t means. The major e f f e c t has been to reduce the posttest difference between the \"Name\" group and the \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group on the learni n g task. As can be seen from Tables 4 and 5, the adjusted mean gains f o r the le a r n i n g task and the transfer task followed the expected pattern. The transfer task gains were numerically smaller than the l e a r n i n g task gains. The r e s u l t s of the analyses of covariance are shown i n Tables 6 and 7. .TABLE 6 A SUMMARY TABLE OF ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE ON THE LEARNING TASK Source df MS F E Equality of Adj. Cel l Means 2 31.39 25.63 < .0005 Zero Slope 1 25.55 21.86 < .000)5 Error 101 1.22 Equality of Slopes 2 3.06 2.57 N.S. Error 99 1.19 TABLE 7 A SUMMARY TABLE OF ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE ON THE TRANSFER TASK Source df MS F \u00C2\u00A3 Equality of Adj. Cell Means 2 32.63 25.91 < ;0005 Zero Slope 1 18.16 14.41 <.0005 Error 101 1.26 Equality of Slopes 2 .42 .33 N.S. Error 99 1.28 As can be seen from Tables 6 and 7, a f t e r ad-justment f o r pretest d i f f e r e n c e s , there were s t i l l s i g n i f i c a n t main e f f e c t differences among the three groups on both the l e a r n i n g task and the t r a n s f e r task. I t i s noted that there was a s i g n i f i c a n t deviation from the zero slope. In other words, the analyses of covariance were j u s t i f i e d i n that, i n each case, the covariate (the pretest) was s i g n i -f i c a n t l y r e l a t e d to the dependent v a r i a b l e . I t i s also noted that the t e s t f o r equality of slopes yielded a n o n s i g n i f i c a n t P value. This i n d i c a t e s that the slopes f o r the three groups were approxi-mately equal, a necessary condition before i n t e r -p r e t i n g the adjusted means. Hypothesis 1 stated that i f verbal cues are attached to the elements of a v i s u a l sequence, i . e . , name; name and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n , then the number of t r i a l s required f o r mastery of that sequence w i l l decrease as the number of cues increases from no cues (\"Look\") to two cues (\"Name\"; \"Name and Ord-i n a l P o s i t i o n \" ) . In order to test hypothesis 1, t-values f o r contrasts between adjusted group means f o r the l e a r n i n g data were calc u l a t e d . They are summarized i n Table 8. TABLE 8;' t-VALUES FOR CONTRASTS BETWEEN ADJUSTED GROUP MEANS ON LEARNING POSTTEST Group t-value Look vs. Name 5.45 < .0005 Look vs. Ordinal 6.7.2 < .0005 Name va. Ordinal 1.29 N.S. As can be seen from Table 8, hypothesis 1 was only p a r t i a l l y supported. Both the \"Name\" group and the \"Name and Ordinal Position\" group performed the task i n significantly fewer t r i a l s than the \"Look\" group. However, the \"Name and Ordinal Position\" group did not perform the task i n significantly fewer t r i a l s than the \"Name\" group, although the sample result was i n the predicted direction. Hypothesis 2 predicted that i f verbal cues are attached to the elements of a visual sequence, i . e . , name; name and ordinal position, then the number of tr i a l s required for mastery of a sequence of different objects (transfer task) w i l l decrease as the number of cues increases from no cues (\"Look\") to two cues (\"Name\";. \"Name and Ordinal Position\"). In order to:, test hypothesis 2, jt-values for contrasts between adjusted group means f o r the transfer data were calculated. They are summarized i n Table 9. TABLE 9 Ife-VALUES FOR CONTRASTS BETWEEN ADJUSTED GROUP MEANS ON TRANSFER POSTTEST Grorup jt-value P_ Look vs. Name 4.23 < .0005 Look, vs. Ordinal 7.1.6 < .0005 Name vs. Ordinal 2.92 <.005 As can be seen from Table 9), hypothesis 2 was c l e a r l y supported. As was predicted, the \"Name\" group and the \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group per-formed the task i n s i g n i f i c a n t l y fewer t r i a l s than the \"Look\" group, and the \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group performed the task i n s i g n i f i c a n t l y fewer t r i a l s than the \"Name\" group. CHAPTER V I SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION The i n v e s t i g a t o r h y p o t h e s i z e d t h a t i f v e r b a l cues a r e a t t a c h e d t o the ele m e n t s o f a sequence t h e n the l e a r n i n g o f t h a t sequence and a sequence o f d i f -f e r e n t elements w i l l be f a c i l i t a t e d as the number o f cues i n c r e a s e s f r o m no cues t o two c u e s . Three groups o f 35 Grade two s u b j e c t s were compared. One group had t r a i n i n g w h i c h c o n s i s t e d o f l o o k i n g a t t h e e l e -ments o f a sequence (\"Look\" g r o u p ) . A second group had t r a i n i n g w h i c h c o n s i s t e d o f naming t h e ele m e n t s o f a sequence (\"Name\" g r o u p ) . A t h i r d group had. t r a i n i n g w h i c h c o n s i s t e d o f a t t a c h i n g t h e name and o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n t o each element i n a sequence (\"Name and O r d i n a l P o s i t i o n \" g r o u p ) . The t h r e e groups were compared on a l e a r n i n g t a s k on w h i c h t r a i n i n g was g i v e n and on a t r a n s f e r t a s k o f d i f f e r e n t e l e m e n t s on w h i c h no t r a i n i n g was g i v e n . The c o m p a r i s o n s were based on t h e number o f t r i a l s r e q u i r e d t o r e p l i c a t e a sequence o f e i g h t e l e m e n t s . S i n c e d i f f e r e n c e s e x i s t e d among t h e t h r e e groups on t h e p r e t e s t s c o r e s on b o t h t a s k s , a n a l y s e s o f c o v a r i a n c e were p e r f o r m e d t o a d j u s t t h e p o s t t e s t s c o r e s . On. t h e l e a r n i n g t a s k i t was fou n d t h a t b o t h t h e \"Name\" group and t h e \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group performed the task i n s i g -n i f i c a n t l y fewer t r i a l s than the \"Look\" group (p_<.0005). However, while the \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group did perform the task i n fewer t r i a l s than the \"Name\" group, t h i s d i f f e r e n c e was not found to be s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t (p_>.0,5). This may have been due to the short duration of the t r a i n i n g , i . e . , subjects were required to r e p l i c a t e two sequences of elements i n the t r a i n -i n g sessions. I f t r a i n i n g sessions had been i n -creased, the or d i n a l p o s i t i o n f a c t o r might have been found to be more i n f l u e n t i a l . On the transfer task, i t was found that both the \"Name\" group and the \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group performed the task i n s i g n i f i c a n t l y fewer t r i a l s than the \"Look\" group (p_<.0005). I t was also found that the \"Name and Ordinal P o s i t i o n \" group performed the task i n s i g n i f i c a n t l y fewer t r i a l s than the \"Name\" group (p_<.005). In other words, the or d i n a l p o s i t i o n f a c t o r did f a c i l i t a t e the learning of v i s u a l sequences on a tr a n s f e r task d i f f e r e n t from that on which t r a i n i n g was given. Am explanation has yet to be found to explain why the or d i n a l p o s i t i o n cue f a c i l i t a t e d l e a r n i n g to a s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t degree on the transfer task, but not on the le a r n i n g task. A possible e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h i s phenomenon i s tha t the t e c h -nique of u s i n g the o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n cue i s more e f f e c t i v e on sequences which are l e s s f a m i l i a r to the s u b j e c t s . I n the present study t r a i n i n g was giv e n u s i n g the l e a r n i n g task elements only and thus s u b j e c t s were l e s s f a m i l i a r w i t h the t r a n s f e r task elements. I m p l i c a t i o n s f o r F u r t h e r Research Based on the present study, i t would appear t h a t the o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n f a c t o r may f a c i l i t a t e the l e a r n i n g of v i s u a l sequences. However, the i n -v e s t i g a t o r suggests th a t the study be r e p l i c a t e d w i t h the f o l l o w i n g changes: 1 . Subjects should be s e l e c t e d a t d i f f e r e n t grade l e v e l s , e.g., grade one, grade two, and grade t h r e e , to determine whether the o r d i n a l p o s i t i o n f a c t o r f a c i l i t a t e s the l e a r n i n g of v i s u a l sequences to the same degree among other primary grade c h i l d r e n . 2 . A l o n g e r t r a i n i n g p e r i o d should be used. The i n v e s t i g a t o r suggests t h a t had l o n g e r t r a i n i n g s e s s i o n s been used i n the present study, the r e s u l t s might have been more p o s i t i v e . REFERENCES Bateman, B a r b a r a D. I n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e 1961 I l l i n o i s T e s t o f P s y c h o l i n g u i s t i c A b i l i t i e s , W a shington: S p e c i a l C h i l d P u b l i c a t i o n s , 1968. B r o a d b e n t , D.E. P e r c e p t i o n and Communication. New Y o r k : Pergamon, 1958. C a n t o r , G.N. 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Journal of Educational Psychology, 1965, 56, 16-21. "@en . "Thesis/Dissertation"@en . "10.14288/1.0103960"@en . "eng"@en . "Psychology"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en . "Graduate"@en . "The effects of verbal cues on the learning of visual sequences"@en . "Text"@en . "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/35322"@en .