Abstract
Awareness of implicit knowledge is a changing process. Previous studies have examined brain activation patterns corresponding to the start and end stages of implicit learning, but failed to reveal the gradual changing course of awareness in implicit learning. The present study explored brain activation changes corresponding to different awareness states elicited by two different stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA, 850 ms and 1350 ms) over the whole course of implicit sequence learning (i.e., divided into three phases), by using a process dissociation procedure (PDP) paradigm and the technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In the results, it was found that the 850 ms SOA elicited primarily an awareness state of unconsciousness, under which the frontal lobe was significantly activated during the early phase of implicit sequence learning, with its activation levels correlated positively to consciousness levels. In contrast, the 1350 ms SOA triggered predominantly an awareness state of consciousness, under which the activation levels of the inferior parietal lobule correlated positively to consciousness levels during the middle phase, and positively to consciousness levels as well as negatively to unconsciousness levels during the late phase of implicit sequence learning. Overall, the frontal lobe and inferior parietal lobule were found to play critical roles in mediating awareness states over the course of implicit sequence learning.
Highlights
Other researchers insist on a dynamic gradual change viewpoint that consciousness and unconsciousness constitute a continuum, and participants’ awareness gradually changes on the continuum from unconsciousness to consciousness in the course of implicit learning[10,11,12,13]
No previous study has investigated brain activation patterns corresponding to gradual changes of awareness in implicit sequence learning and brain regions mediating different stages of implicit learning process have never been fully understood, which were explored in the present study by using the technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
It was hypothesized that certain core brain regions suggested by previous studies such as putamen[27,28,29], frontal lobe[30,31], and inferior parietal lobule[32] would continuously mediate the whole implicit learning process, with their activation levels varying in accordance to awareness changes measured by the process dissociation procedure (PDP)
Summary
Other researchers insist on a dynamic gradual change viewpoint that consciousness and unconsciousness constitute a continuum, and participants’ awareness gradually changes on the continuum from unconsciousness to consciousness in the course of implicit learning[10,11,12,13] Consistent with this viewpoint, Destrebecqz and Cleeremans used the process dissociation procedure (PDP) to measure awareness states in different response-stimulus-interval (RSI) settings during implicit learning, and found that awareness of the implicit knowledge was improved from complete unconsciousness in a 0 ms RSI condition to partial consciousness in a 250 ms RSI condition[14,15]. No previous study has investigated brain activation patterns corresponding to gradual changes of awareness in implicit sequence learning and brain regions mediating different stages of implicit learning process have never been fully understood, which were explored in the present study by using the technique of fMRI. It was hypothesized that certain core brain regions suggested by previous studies such as putamen[27,28,29], frontal lobe[30,31], and inferior parietal lobule[32] would continuously mediate the whole implicit learning process, with their activation levels varying in accordance to awareness changes measured by the PDP
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