Explicitly versus implicitly driven temporal expectations: No evidence for altered perceptual processing due to top-down modulations.

Abstract

Learning the statistical regularities of environmental events is a powerful tool for enhancing performance. However, it remains unclear whether this often implicit type of behavioral facilitation can be proactively modulated by explicit knowledge about temporal regularities. Only recently, Menceloglu and colleagues (Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 79(1), 169-179, 2017) tested for differences between implicit versus explicit statistical learning of temporal regularities by using a within-paradigm manipulation of metacognitive temporal knowledge. The authors reported that temporal expectations were enhanced if participants had explicit knowledge about temporal regularities. Here, we attempted to replicate and extend their results, and to provide a mechanistic framework for any effects by means of computational modelling. Participants performed a letter-discrimination task, with target letters embedded in congruent or incongruent flankers. Temporal predictability was manipulated block-wise, with targets occurring more often after either a short or a long delay period. During the delay a sound was presented in half of the trials. Explicit knowledge about temporal regularities was manipulated by changing instructions: Participants received no information (implicit), information about the most likely cue-target delay (explicit), or received 100% valid cues on each trial (highly explicit). We replicated previous effects of target-flanker congruence and sound presence. However, no evidence was found for an effect of explicit knowledge on temporal expectations using Bayesian statistics. Concordantly, computational modelling suggested that explicit knowledge may only influence non-perceptual processing such as response criteria. Together, our results indicate that explicit metacognitive knowledge does not necessarily alter sensory representations or temporal expectations but rather affects response strategies.