STANDISH & CHAMPION (1960) conducted a 2 phase pared associate learning study with 3 groups of human Ss: Lo, Med, and Hi Anxiety on the MAS. The first task was the learning of an easy list constructed with high-association words using the Kent-Rosanoff norms (e.g., black-white, cat-dog, salt-pepper). This easy list was presented to all Ss until there was a criterion of 2 successive errorless trials, plus 8 more trials. The dependent measure was response latency (the amount of time elapsed until the response was emitted. This training guaranteed that the high-association responses were dominant in the habit family hierarchy, and (as predicted by the theory)--the HI-A > Med-A > Lo-A across the learning trials. (OK, the Med & Lows didn’t differ much, but at least HIA > LOA.

In the second part of the study, more difficult responses (those with low association value) were substituted for the original responses on the list (e.g., black-forgotten, cat-funeral, salt-membrane). In the habit family hierarchy, these new responses would initially have less habit strength than the original high-association responses. At the beginning of learning of the hard list LO-A > MED-A > HI-A, consistent with Spence-Spence theory. (WELL, NOT EXACTLY, LO > MED=HI). As learning of the difficult list progressed, when the new responses were correctly given reinforcement occurred and the habit strength of the new response increased. At the end of training of the difficult list, the new responses became dominant over the old ones, and this resulted in a cross-over where now HI-A > MED-A > LO-A (AGAIN, NOT EXACTLY, HI>MED=LO). If you only consider the HI and LO anxiety groups, the results confirm directly to theory.