Effects of the Memorization of Rule Statements on Performance, Retention, and Transfer in a Computer-Based Learning Task.

Research sought to determine whether memorization of rule statements before, during or after instruction in rule application skills would facilitate the acquisition and/or retention of rule-governed behavior as compared to no-rule statement memorization. A computer-assisted instructional (CAI) program required high school students to learn to a pre-specified criterion the application of five programing rules. Results indicated that rule statement memorization prior to rule application instruction did facilitate acquisition of rule-governed behavior. Despite this finding, however, no differences on a retention test in rule application skills could be attributed to the memorization of rule statements. (Author)