Sequence Effects in Rule Learning and Conceptual Generalization
Chok C. Hiew · The American Journal of Psychology · 1977
Subjects were given 12 training problems based on four primary bidimensional rules, the problems mixed so that the rule changed after every problem (to facilitate adoption of a truth-table strategy; condition M) or systematically blocked by rule (condition S). Their next tasks were to learn an unpracticed complementary rule, to discover a tridimensional rule, and to identify a rule based on novel and meaningful stimuli. The findings show that condition M facilitated the subjects' ability to abstract, generalize, and extend a higherorder strategy. They suggest the importance of the sequence as well as the variety of rules and imply a hierarchical model of concept learning.