Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships between verbal complexity and paired-associate learning and retention in elementary school children. The theoretical basis of the study was deduced from the current version of the interference theory proposed by Underwood and Postman. Based on this theory the following research hypothesis was tested: the children´s verbal complexity would be negatively related to the speed of paired-associate learning and positively related to the speed of forgetting of learned material. Procedure: the sample of 100 normal 4th and 5th grader were selected. The learning material consisted of 12 paired-associate verbal tasks (Unrelated Chinese Characters) with each pair printed on a 4″×6″ white card. The characters were known by Ss, and had been identified as having high associative values for elementary school children. Ss were trained to the criterion of two correct responses using the method of adjusted learning by which the effect of overlearning chould be controlled. Ss´ verbal complexity was determined by the method of free recall. Long-term retention was measured, and the time intervals between termination of learning and retention tests were 1 day and 10 days. Findings: The main findings of the study were: (1) The verbal complexity was positively correlated with the levels of intelligence. (2) The verbal complexity was negatively correlated with speed of learning, and positively correlated with speed of forgetting. (3) No difference between boys and girls in learning or retention was found. Conclusions: Based on the evidence given herein the following conclusions were drawn: (1) The hypothesis was not surpported and the conclusion was that complex verbal experience may not be necessary to produce proactive inhibition that interferes learning and retention. (2) Based on the concept of extraexperimental transfer proposed by Underwood, it could be hypothesized that the preexperimental associations might produce positive, rather than negative, transfer effect during learning and retention. This interpretation would be valid when single paired-associate technique, utilizing meaningful words is employed.