In the study of verbal learning, psychologists use a variety of materials including non-sense syllables, familiar words, unfamiliar words, sentence, and paragraphs.

Procedures for studying verbal learning

1. Paired Associates Learning: This method is similar to S-S conditioning and S-R learning. It is used in learning some foreign language equivalents of mother tongue words. First a list of paired associates is prepared. The first word of the pair is used as the stimulus, and the second word as the response. Members of each pair may be from the same language or two different languages. A list of such word is given in Table given below:

Table: Examples of Stimulus - Response

Pairs used in Paired - Associates

Learning

2. Serial Learning: This method of verbal learning is used to find out how participants learn the lists of verbal items, and what processes are involved in it. First, lists of verbal items, i.e., non-sense syllables, most familiar or least familiar words, interrelated words, etc. are prepared. The participant is presented the entire list and it required to produce the items in the same serial order as in the list. In the first trial, the first item of the list is shown and the participant has to produce the second item. If s/he fails to do so within the prescribed time, the experimenter presents the second items. Now this item becomes the stimulus and the participant has to produce the third item that is the response word. If s/he fails, the experimenter gives the correct item, which becomes the stimulus item for the fourth words. This procedure is called serial anticipation method. Learning trials continue until the participant correctly anticipates all the items in the given order.

3. Free Recall: In this method, participants are presented a list of words, which they read and speak out. Each word is shown at a fixed rate of exposure duration. Immediately after the presentation of the list, the participants are required to recall the words in any order they can. Words in the list may be interrelated or unrelated. More than ten words are included in the list. The present order or words varies from trial to trial. This method is used to study how participants organise words for storage in memory. It has been observed that the items placed in the beginning or end of the lists are easier to recall than those placed in the middle, which are more difficult to recall.