The present study affords an explanation for the consistent, but not always statistically significant, pattern showing superior verbal discrimination learning performance for low- as compared to high-frequency words. In a frequency judgment task it was found that relative to high-frequency words, low-frequency words for which subjects (sixth…

When 112 fifth- and sixth-graders were observed for their use of one of two possible rehearsal strategies in verbal discrimination learning tasks, the strategy in which the children generated a functional explanation of the word showed a positive influence on simple frequency discriminations. Data analyses also indicate that under this strategy…