The Incidental Learning of Accessible Names and Definitions

An experiment was conducted to test and improve three hypotheses concerning the effects of exposing adults to varying combinations of names, definitions, and referents when the motivation to learn was at a minimum and when instructions could be easily executed. Three balanced designs were employed: in one, drawings representing the referents of ten ambiguous names and ten connotative definitions were present initially during learning and also subsequently during testing; in another they were present only initially; and in a third only subsequently. It was found, in the first place, that denotative definitions could be accurately remembered or utilized under most conditions. Responding with a connotative definition to a name, secondly, was the least efficient method of learning but only in the absence of a denotative definition. Verbal responses, thirdly, were more efficiently recalled than verbal stimuli, and stimulus names more efficiently than stimulus connotative definitions, provided that they had been learned in the presence of a referent designated by the investigator. In general, the importance of the denotative definition was demonstrated.