Methodological considerations in studying awareness during learning: Part 1: Implicit learning

Abstract

AbstractMethodological problems of how awareness during learning should be measured have been extensively discussed and investigated in cognitive psychology. This review considers; 1)whether amnesics can perform implicit learning tasks at a similar level to normal controls, 2) whether differences in instructional orientations create dissociations in performance in tests of implicit and explicit knowledge, and 3) whether participants can retrospectively verbalise the learning outcomes. The paper concludes that; (1) amnesics’ implicit learning abilities differ from the normal controls, (2) instructions on implicit learning do not guarantee the occurrence of implicit learning, and (3) objective and subjective awareness measures used in the literature face inherent problems and so the awareness controversy remains unsettled.