Terry G. Halwes’s research while affiliated with Arlington Baptist College and other places

Twenty-four letter pairs generated by elementary grammars formally similar to a child’s first grammars were presented to 3 groups of adult Ss for recall. The first grammar had a simple structure, the second a more complex structure, and the third, random pairings. In all of these groups, the Ss responded as if they had been presented the simple grammar. They learned neither the pairs nor their underlying structure.

Letter pairs generated by an elementary grammar were presented to college student Ss for recall. Ss were given 14 trials to learn 18 pairs, using a free recall technique. These Ss did not reach learning asymptote. Another group of Ss was given 12 pairs for 20 trials. Most Ss did not learn the pairs in these trials. The intrusions in the recall protocols suggest that the Ss did not learn the grammar from which the pairs were generated, but they learned the position of the letters in the pairs and generated sequences accordingly. Some Ss seem to have learned the presented pairs directly and these Ss tended to learn the pairs presented better. The authors concluded that mere exposure with intent to learn is not sufficient for the learning of grammatical structure.