The Effects of Context Stimuli on Paired-Associate Learning.

In three experiments, the presence of contexts (colors) for the nominal stimuli (words) on the study trials, test trials, or both led to better-than-chance posttraining matching of the colors with the words or with their response terms (CVC nonwords) but did not facilitate paired-associate learning. Instructions to learn each stimulus-response pair by establishing a mediational chain of stimulus, context, and response had the same effects. The results provide little support for Bimbaum's position that the presence of contexts facilitates paired-associate learning through mediation.