PRACTICAL 1

TITLE: Impact of Meaningfulness ofstudying material on Learning

PROBLEM: To study the effect of meaningfulness on learning using list of

meaningful words to nonsense syllables.
INTRODUCTION:

Learning may be defined as "any relatively permanent change in behaviour or

behavioural potential produced by experience."
1.Continuous vs Partial Reinforcement: In continuous reinforcement the
participant is given reinforcement after each target response. This kind of schedule of
reinforcement produces a high rate of responding. However, once the reinforce is
withheld, response rates decrease very quickly, in the responses acquired under this
schedule tend to extinguish. Since organism is getting reinforcement on each trial, the
effectiveness of that reinforce is reduced. In such schedule where reinforcement is not
continuous, some response are not reinforced. Hence, they are called partial or
intermittent reinforcement.

2. Motivation: Motivation is a mental as wellas a physiological state, which arouses

an organism to act for fulfilling the current need. For example, a hungry rat is placed
in a box. The animal start searching food in the box. With repeated experience of
such activity, the animal learns to press the lever immediately after the animal is
placed there. Another example, have you ever asked yourself why you are studying
these subjects in XIth class? You are doing this to get good grades in your
The more motivated you are, more hard work you do for earning. exams.
These two types of
motivation are called intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.

3. Preparedness for learning: The member of different species are very different
from one another in their sensory capacities and response abilities. It can be that
species have biological constrains on their learning capacities. A particular kind of
associative learning is easy for apes or human being but may be extremely difficult
for cats and rats. It implies that one can learn only those
associations for which one is
genetically prepared.
4. Meaningfulness: Yet another factor that contributes to the learning efficiency is
the meaningless and of the material be learned. if the material to be learnt is
meaningful andrelevant to the rate of learning becomes rapid. The more meaningful
the material, the fewer the trials or practice session necessary to learn it.

HYPOTHESIS: it will take a fewer number of trials to learn meaningful words as

compared to non-sense syllables
Independent Variable: List Aof non-sense syllables and list Bof meaningful
words.
Dependent Variable: The number of trials required to learn each of the two
lists.

CONTROL:
1. Noise level was controlle.
2. Temperature label is at a comfortable level.
3. Light was adequate.
4. It was ensured that the subject was not tired or anxious.

DESIGN:
The experiment was designed in a way that List A of non-sense syllables was first
shown to the subject. Each non-sense syllable was to be expose for 10 seconds and
the entire list of 15 syllables was shown in 90 seconds ie 1.5 minutes.
This process was to be repeated was the same way for List B of meaningful words.
Materials Reauired
1. List A comprising of non-sense syllables.
2. List B comprising of words.
3. Paper, pen, pencil
PROCEDURE:
Preliminaries
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Qualification:
Place of conduction: Psychology Lab
Time:
Precautions
1. Optimal conditions for testing were ensured before the test begun
2. The tester should ensure that the subject is not familiar with the test.
 3. Subject should be assured of confidentiality of test results.
Rapport Formation
Rapport was established between the subject and the tester, prior to the test so that
he/she could feel comfortable and at ease. In such a state, she/he should answer the
questions in a calm manner and any doubts should be cleared before starting the test.
Instructions
The following instructions were given:
You will be shown two lists, list A has meaningless words and list B will have
meaningful words.
Youwill be shown each word for 10 second.
After you have seen all the words from List A, then you will be given one minute
to write down the words that you remember in any order.
However, the trials will continue till you are able to recall all the words correctly in
one minute.
" Similarly, the same procedure will be followed with List B.
ADMINISTRATION
After the instructions were given, the subject was asked the demographic details
which vwere noted.
The subject was then shown list A till she is able to recall all the words of List, no of
trials taken is noted. Similarly the subject was then shown list B till she is able to recall
all the words of List, no of trials taken is noted
Introspective Report
As reported by the subject
[You willpaste the introspective report given by your subject on the blank sheet]
Behavioural report
Observe the subject's behaviour in every trial and note it down.
Scoring
Total number of trails taken to recall List A completely and List B completely is
noted .
LIST LIST A LIST B
NO OF TRIALS TAKEN
TO RECALL

RESULTS:
The results were analysed on the basis on the trials required to recall words from both
lists.
List A-number of trials - 5
List B-number of trials-2

INTERPRETATION:
 After giving the instructions and ensuring that the subject had understood, the
experiment was conducted. The subject was shown in list Aof non-sense syllables
and the trials where taken till the subject was able to recall all the words in the given
time.
Similarly List B of meaningful words were shown and one minute to recall them was
given to the subject to write down the words. The trials were continued till the subject
was able to recall all the words in one minute. Since the subject took less trials to
recall the meaningful syllables, it can be easily interpreted that meaningfulwords
help in learning.
CONCLUSION:
Since, the subject's number of trials to recall non-sense syllables were more than the
number of trials to recall meaningful words, the hypothesis is valid.

REFRENCES:
1. NCERT textbook, Psychology

SAMPLE LIST OF MEANINGLESS & MEANINGFUL WORDS

List-A | List - B
WAF PEN
TEC BAT
REB HEN
CIZ MAT
BIX RAT
YOW FLY
ZOT SAT
DIR FAN
RUK BAN
FUM FAT
DAP CAN
SAH EAT
POQ CRY
XEY PAT
RIZ FAN
|LUW CAT