Negative Transfer: Choice Reaction Times to Paired Associates.

Negative transfer involving paired associates was studied in three experiments using a modified Stenberg procedure. Reaction times to A-B (positive) pairs and to C-D and A-Br (negative) pairs as probes showed significantly slower re- sponding to A-Br pairs, as well as to A-B pairs after A-Br than after C-D pairs. The results suggest that negative transfer may occur during a central stage in the serial processing of information, the stage involving the testing required to classify a probe as positive or negative. Thus, the A-Br pairs may interfere with the classification of the A-B pairs within a list by increasing the number of items in the functional probe that must be tested.