RESPONSE LATENCY AS A FUNCTION OF TRAINING METHOD, INFORMATION LEVEL, ACQUISITION, AND OVERLEARNING

Response latency was studied as a measure of associative strength or degree of learning and as a possible basis for instructional decision making in computer-assisted instruction. Latency was investigated in a paired-associate task as a function of training procedure (a comparison of the anticipation and recall paradigms) and information transmission requirements (a comparison of two, four, and eight response alternatives to an eight-item stimulus list) during both acquisition and overlearning. The magnitude and variability of latency measurements were independent of training method during acquisition, but both were reduced by the recall paradigm during overlearning. Latency was an increasing function of the number of response alternatives during both acquisition and overlearning. During acquisition, prior to the trial of last error (TLE) for each item, latency remained relatively constant and did not differ between correct and incorrect responses. There was a substantial drop in latency following the TLE. Pre-TLE latencies were independent of S learning rate, while post-TLE latencies were an increasing function of learning rate. The latency of the first correct response to an item was found to be shorter if there were no subsequent errors on that item. In general, the study suggests that latency, at least in a rote verbal task, may be a sensitive measure of strength of learning during the overlearning phase, but not during initial learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.