Schema learning and utilization as a function of task and stimulus variables.

This article contributes to a debate in the linguistic and psychological literature that centres around the representation of morphologically complex words in the grammar and in the lexicon. The issue is whether inflectional morphology is rule-based (i.e. symbolically represented), or whether the assumption of pattern association is more adequate to account for the facts. On the basis of the analysis of acquisitional data the article strongly argues for the latter alternative. In a classic experiment that helped shape the development of acquisition theory Berko (1958) reported substantial support for item-and-process rules in the acquisition of plural morphology in English. A large part of her results were zero responses (repetition of the stimulus). A reinterpretation of these zero responses in light of schema theory and the cue strength hypothesis shows a striking departure from randomness. Berko's subjects tended to repeat stimuli just to the extent that these already resembled a plural schema. A reinterpretation of data reported in Innes (1974) achieved compatible results. This data set is far more extensive than Berko's and is used in the present study to put the schema model to a more stringent test. A reinterpretation of a parallel experiment with German children, using the cue strength analysis of the more complex plural morphology of German yielded parallel results. Finally, natural acquisitional data obtained from seven German speaking children aged between 2;1 and 2;9 are analysed. Again, strong support is found for the schema model. It is suggested that a schema-learning mechanism may underlie the acquisition of morphology, even when the end product of the learning process involves item-and-process rules, as in the case of English plural formation. In a schema-learning model, the child builds schematic representations for possible singular and plural lexical items as whole gestalts, and attempts to map concrete forms onto these schemata in deciding whether the forms have singular or plural value.

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Schema Learning in Retarded Children

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1972.30.2.447 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 447-453 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Elvis C. Jones ◽

Donald G. Myers ◽

Donald L. Cleveland

Keyword(s):

Channel Capacity ◽

Knowledge Of Results ◽

Pattern Complexity ◽

Schema Learning ◽

Amount Of Information ◽

Cell Patterns

2 experiments with mildly retarded children are reported. In Exp. 1, 30 Ss reproduced checkerboard patterns containing 16, 20, 25, 30, and 36 cells. With increases in pattern complexity there was a decrease in the percent but not the amount of information retained (correcting for guessing). Ss performed significantly above chance even on the 36-cell patterns. In Exp. 2, 20 Ss abstracted a schema from 36-cell patterns without exposure to the prototype and without knowledge of results. These Ss retained 262% more cells than 20 control Ss who were trained with nonschematic patterns. Thus, training retarded children to abstract and use schemata should allow them to process more information despite having limited channel capacity.

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