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Summary The present study explored the effects of motivational factors upon retention in an A-B,A-C retroactive inhibition (RI) paradigm. High- and Low-incentive instructions were distributed between the original (OL) and interpolated (IL) learnings (with relearning, RL, always under the OL condition) so that four experimental groups were established: High-High-High (HHH), High-Low-High (HLH), Low-Low-Low (LLL), and Low-High-Low (LHL). All S s were brought to the same learning criterion (8/10) on OL and IL lists, which consisted of paired two-syllable adjectives. Two predictions were tested: (1) that instructional change (from OL to IL) would reduce RI, and (2) that High instructions (during OL and IL) would facilitate recall. The major finding was a clearly significant reduction in RI for the HHH as compared with the other three groups. This occurred despite the fact that there were no differences between the four groups in rate of OL and IL, in interlist intrusions, or in number of items recalled during the early phase of IL. A control group (LLH) was no different from the LLL group in either learning or retention and was also significantly poorer than the HHH group in recall. Thus, neither instructional change nor the occurrence of High instructions during OL or IL alone enhanced recall, but rather the occurrence of High instructions during IL combined with OL, RL, or both. It is suggested that High instructions at these points may have elicited learning-to-learn responses which served either to differentiate the two lists or to mediate between them. |
