Effects of verbalizations on discrimination learning and retention

Five groups of adult Ss verbalized various stimulus combinations while learning ten, two-choice discriminations. In comparison with a nonverbal control group, verbalizing the correct stimulus after each response facilitated learning, verbalizing the stimulus responded to or verbalizing the incorrect stimulus had no effect, and verbalizing both stimuli or verbalizing a stimulus preselected at random had an interfering effect. The verbalizations also affected the number of positive and negative stimuli recalled following completion of the task, with Ss tending to recall more of the stimuli which they had overtly verbalized.