It is hypothesized that anchoring, rehearsal, and interference may all play a role in the serial-position effect. Anchoring refers to the tendency to latch onto the beginning and end of items in a list as “anchors” for memory. Rehearsal theories state that participants recall more items in the beginning and end because there is less competition for memory at that stage. Interference theories point to the disruption of learning when items in the middle of the list interfere with each other.  

Paired-associate learning is similar to classical conditioning; both types of learning involve the sequence of stimulus-response and rely on paired items. It is not operant conditioning because there is no contingency or reward. Discriminative stimulus control applies to operant learning and is a signal of the availability of a reward. Last, response learning refers to the process of shaping behavior.

In verbal learning, the term “direction of associations” refers to the tendency for recall to only go in the direction it is rehearsed. For example, if you make flash cards for Spanish class, and rehearse by reading the English word (first word of the pair) followed by the Spanish word (second word of the pair), there is a good chance that you would recall the Spanish; however, if you were tested from Spanish to English you may not be able to recall the information because the “direction of associations” tends to follow the direction you rehearsed. 

In learning and memory, the term “categorical clustering” refers to the tendency for recall of a list to increase when the list is constructed so that the words come from the same semantic categories. For example, a list is easier to recall when the words are related to each other, such as types of food or animals.

“Implicit learning” is a type of learning that seems to occur even without awareness or the intention to learn. Although learning has taken place, it may not be able to be verbalized or well articulated. For example, if you have seen and performed a process “by rote” or habit many times, you might have trouble trying to describe exactly how to do it to someone else. You might have to demonstrate it instead of just describing it.

Scientific studies of learning tend to rely on objective evidence of a quantifiable and relatively permanent change in behavior. In other words, the result of learning must be capable of being empirically observed and measured. Neuroscience is making huge strides in mapping changes to the brain that occur as a result of learning, but most learning is still not visible through brain imaging. The scientific method does not rely on subjective experiences. 

Grammatical rules are those of "syntax" because they depend almost exclusively on the placement of words and their arrangement in a sentence. Their position relative to each other allows ideas to be expressed in a multitude of different ways. A different arrangement of words in a sentence will produce a different idea. 

In this case, the bell's ringing ends before the food is presented; therefore, it would be best described as "trace conditioning." If the bell were still ringing when the food was presented, then this would be described as "delayed conditioning," which has the most powerful response. In "backward conditioning," the unconditioned stimulus is presented before the conditioned stimulus. Also, in "simultaneous conditioning," the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus are presented at the same time.