Chunking during serial learning by a pigeon: III. What are the necessary conditions for establishing a chunk?
What are the minimal conditions for the formation of chunks by a pigeon learning an arbitrary list? Experiment 1 compared the acquisition of two types of chunkable list (each composed of colors and achromatic geometric forms): A----B----C----D'----E' (or A'----B'----C'----D----E) and A----B----C'----D'----E' (or A'----B'----C----D----E). The first type of list was acquired more rapidly than the second. On both lists, however, evidence of chunking did not emerge until the four-item phase of training (e.g., pauses at the end of one category of list item). In Experiment 2, chunking was shown to occur on four-item lists in which colors and forms were segregated (A----B----C'----D' and A'----B'----C----D), but not on lists in which the two types of items were interspersed (A----B'----C'----D and A'----B----C----D'). As in Experiment 1, evidence of chunking (pauses at chunk boundaries) did not appear until the fourth item was added.
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Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027.
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D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012691:Serial Learning; D014163:Transfer, Psychology