A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

performance for some but not all participants. Therefore, as different learning
strategies appeared to be useful for different participants it was decided to
introduce a variety of learning strategies to main investigation participants and
encourage them to use the one most suited to their particular learning style.
As the novel word forms, images and associated meanings (i.e. skills) were
created and linked by the same person, the second aim of this preliminary study
involved an evaluation of the characteristics of the stimuli to be learned. It aimed
to assess if there were any intrinsic links between the various components of the
stimuli that facilitated the learning of those participants who used the mnemonic
technique above those who did not. To this end the novel images to be learned
by Group A were randomly assigned their various attributes (i.e. name, skill and
eye colour). The results (see Table 3.4) indicated that the high scoring
participants from preliminary study one (Group A) were also the high scorers in
preliminary study two. These results have two indications. Firstly, high scores
were achieved despite the randomisation of the stimuli attributes and therefore
there did not appear to be any intrinsic links between the novel stimuli that would
influence learning performance. Secondly, the persistent high performance of
Group A participants successfully achieved the third aim of this preliminary study
in that they demonstrated the reliability of preliminary study one results by
replicating their stronger learning performance.
Preliminary study two again demonstrated a wide range of learning ability by the
normal population, further supporting the suggestion that a matched control was
not required for the main investigation. No practice effects between preliminary
studies one and two were apparent and some people actually performed worse
in the second study, although not significantly.
During the assessment phase of preliminary study two it was noted that
although all participants heard the new word forms on a number of occasions
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