Verbal learning: processes, mechanisms, and applications

Verbal learning is defined as the acquisition of verbal information. Verbal learning is generally classified into three basic categories. The first is serial learning, or "learning to reproduce the items in a list in their original order (for example, learning the letters of the alphabet)" (Verbal learning, 2011, Fullerton). Serial learning is often accomplished by learning through by rote or through the use of mnemonic devices. It is often contrasted with "paired-associate learning: learning to make a verbal response when a specific stimulus is presented (for example, learning foreign language vocabulary: stimulus = foreign word, response = English word)" (Verbal learning, 2011, Fullerton). When learning a new language, for example, both types of verbal learning are often used. At first, the learner must memorize a new alphabet and vocabulary. But gradually, the words will take on meaning and the learner can learn based upon association, or and can respond with specific words to a prompt.

Learning 'nonsense' words is, for most people, invariably more difficult than learning words that have meaning. To learn nonsense syllables usually requires the learner to create mnemonic devices to aid memory. And even with nonsense words, some nonsense words 'sound' more meaningful than other nonsense words: "Researchers measure the 'meaningfulness' of an item in terms of how readily it reminds you of a word, like how many words you can think of in 10 seconds" (Verbal learning, 2011, Fullerton).

A final type of verbal learning is so-called 'free recall.' Unlike serial learning, which requires the memorized words to be in a particular order, free recall is a kind of 'shopping list' format of learning, in which the words can be recalled in any order (Verbal learning, 2011, Fullerton). If you have to buy bread, eggs, and butter, it doesn't matter what order in which you recall the words. However, although it might seem that 'free recall' is easier and less 'pressured' because there is no required order, serial learning often is easier, and people default to that method instead when faced with a task of memorizing nonsense words without any real meaning. They create associations (such as remembering a shopping list based upon alphabetical order or the order in which items are located in the store. Additionally, "when learners must remember single words or nonsense syllables in free recall, the greatest recall usually occurs at the end of the list, with good but lower recall at the beginning. If the words to be learned are meaningfully related, such as those in a sentence, people tend to remember them by using serial anticipation, even when they are allowed to use free recall" (Serial learning, 2001, Encyclopedia of Psychology). The phenomenon of being able to recall the last and first items in a list more easily than later items is often manifested in recalling lists of historical dates or presidents, or lines of poetry, where the middle sections are often the most difficult to remember.