The Effect of Contingent Shock (Punishment) on the Performance of a Paired-Associates Learning Task

Summary

Two groups of Ss were tested for recall of functional stimuli after having learned a list of paired associates to criterion. One group received shock contingent upon incorrect association, while a second group received no shock during the acquisition of the paired associates. The group given shock contingent upon incorrect responses recalled significantly fewer of the associates than the no shock group. The differential effects of shock due to contingency were discussed.