Implicit Learning Effect Research Articles

SIMPLE REGULARITIES ACQUISITION IN THE STUDIES OF IMPLICIT LEARNING

Background. According to modern empirical data, unconsciously processed information can have a significant impact on human behavior in all spheres of activity. Information about the unconscious information processing is fragmented and often contradictory. For the study of implicit learning different approaches are traditionally used, but none of them are effective for the clear results about the consciousness and abstractness degree of the knowledge obtained. We could more carefully inquire into the matter of unconscious knowledge and its influence on the cognitive problems solving with information about implicit learning of simple rules. This methodology makes it possible to apply more strong criteria for explicit knowledge and assumes purer experimental effects of implicit learning. Objective. To consider and analyze the experience of use experimental techniques with simple regularities acquisition in the studies of implicit learning. Methods. Review and analysis of studies using simple regularities in the field of implicit learning. Results. In the article researches within the experimental paradigms “invariant learning” and “hidden covariation detection” are considered. The most significant experiments, their results and the criticism has led to an improvement of experimental procedures are presented. The problems of using different types of tasks in the training and test stages are described. The main possibilities and limitations of using these paradigms for revealing the effect of implicit learning are outlined. Further perspectives for the application of these techniques are considered. But one needs for a more rigorous approach to measuring the level of awareness. Conclusion. Experimental paradigms with simple regularities acquisition may be promising for the study of implicit association learning mechanisms.

The Effect of Explicit and Implicit Learning on Static Balance

The Effect of Explicit and Implicit Learning on Static Balance

Asymmetrical effects of control on the expression of implicit sequence learning.

As an automatic process, implicit learning effects have been characterized as inflexible and largely tied to the reinstatement of the acquisition context. However, implicit learning transfer has been observed under certain conditions, depending on the changes introduced between training and transfer. Here, we assess the hypothesis that transfer is specifically hindered by those changes that increase the control demands required by the orienting task with respect to those faced over training. Following on previous results by Jiménez et al. (J Exp Psychol Learn Memory Cognit 32(3):475-490, 2006), which showed that the learning acquired over a standard serial reaction time task was not transferred to conditions requiring a more demanding search task, we explored the impact of symmetrical training and transfer conditions, and showed that sequence learning survived such transfer. Four additional experiments designed to assess transfer to either lower or higher control demands confirmed that the expression of learning was selectively hindered by those transfer conditions requiring higher levels of control demands. The results illustrate how implicit sequence learning can be indirectly subjected to cognitive control.

Neuronal correlates of label facilitated tactile perception

It is a long-standing question in neurolinguistics, to what extent language can have a causal effect on perception. A recent behavioural study reported that participants improved their discrimination ability of Braille-like tactile stimuli after one week of implicit association training with language stimuli being co-presented redundantly with the tactile stimuli. In that experiment subjects were exposed twice a day for 1 h to the joint presentation of tactile stimuli presented to the fingertip and auditorily presented pseudowords. Their discrimination ability improved only for those tactile stimuli that were consistently paired with pseudowords, but not for those that were discordantly paired with different pseudowords. Thereby, a causal effect of verbal labels on tactile perception has been demonstrated under controlled laboratory conditions. This raises the question as to what the neuronal mechanisms underlying this implicit learning effect are. Here, we present fMRI data collected before and after the aforementioned behavioral learning to test for changes in brain connectivity as the underlying mechanism of the observed behavioral effects. The comparison of pre- and post-training revealed a language-driven increase in connectivity strength between auditory and secondary somatosensory cortex and the hippocampus as an association-learning related region.

Learning Effect of Implicit Learning in Joining-in-type Robot-assisted Language Learning System

The introduction of robots into language learning systems has been highly useful, especially in motivating learners to engage in the learning process and in letting human learners converse in more realistic conversational situations. This paper describes a novel robot-assisted language learning system that induces the human learner into a triad conversation with two robots through which he or she improves practical communication skills in various conversational situations. The system applies implicit learning as the main learning style for conveying linguistic knowledge, in an indirect way, through conversations on several topics. A series of experiments was conducted using 80 recruited participants to evaluate the effect of implicit learning and the retention effect in a joining-in-type robot-assisted language learning system. The experimental results show positive effects of implicit learning and repetitive learning in general. Based on these experimental results, we propose an improved method, integrating implicit learning and tutoring with corrective feedback in an adaptive way, to increase performance in practical communication skills even for a wide variety of proficiency of L2 learners.

Modeling implicit learning in a cross-modal audio-visual serial reaction time task

This study examined implicit learning in a cross-modal condition, where visual and auditory stimuli were presented in an alternating fashion. Each cross-modal transition occurred with a probability of 0.85, enabling participants to gain a reaction time benefit by learning the cross-modal predictive information between colors and tones. Motor responses were randomly remapped to ensure that pure perceptual learning took place. The effect for the implicit learning was extracted from the data by fitting five different models to the data, which was highly variable due to motor variability. To examine individual learning rates for stimulus types of different discriminability and modality, the models were fitted per stimulus type and individually for each participant. The model selection identified the model that included motor variability, surprise effects for deviants and a serial position for effect onset as the most explanatory (Akaike weight 0.87). Further, there was a significant global cross-modal implicit learning effect for predictable versus deviant transitions (40 ms reaction time difference, p < 0.004). The learning rates over time differed for both modality and the stimuli within modalities, although there was no correlation to global error rates or reaction time differences between the stimulus types. These results demonstrate a modeling method that is well suited to extract detailed information about the success of implicit learning from high variability data. It further shows a cross-modal implicit learning effect, which extends the understanding of the implicit learning system and highlights the possibility for information to be processed in a cross-modal representation without conscious processing.

The Effects of Implicit and Explicit Motor Learning in Gait Rehabilitation of People After Stroke: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BackgroundA significant part of neurological rehabilitation focuses on facilitating the learning of motor skills. Training can adopt either (more) explicit or (more) implicit forms of motor learning. Gait is one of the most practiced motor skills within rehabilitation in people after stroke because it is an important criterion for discharge and requirement for functioning at home.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to describe the design of a randomized controlled study assessing the effects of implicit motor learning compared with the explicit motor learning in gait rehabilitation of people suffering from stroke.MethodsThe study adopts a randomized, controlled, single-blinded study design. People after stroke will be eligible for participation when they are in the chronic stage of recovery (>6 months after stroke), would like to improve walking performance, have a slow walking speed (<1 m/s), can communicate in Dutch, and complete a 3-stage command. People will be excluded if they cannot walk a minimum of 10 m or have other additional impairments that (severely) influence gait. Participants will receive 9 gait-training sessions over a 3-week period and will be randomly allocated to an implicit or explicit group. Therapists are aware of the intervention they provide, and the assessors are blind to the intervention participants receive. Outcome will be assessed at baseline (T0), directly after the intervention (T1), and after 1 month (T2). The primary outcome parameter is walking velocity. Walking performance will be assessed with the 10-meter walking test, Dynamic Gait Index, and while performing a secondary task (dual task). Self-reported measures are the Movement Specific Reinvestment Scale, verbal protocol, Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale, and the Global Perceived Effect scale. A process evaluation will take place to identify how the therapy was perceived and identify factors that may have influenced the effectiveness of the intervention. Repeated measures analyses will be conducted to determine significant and clinical relevant differences between groups and over time.ResultsData collection is currently ongoing and results are expected in 2019.ConclusionsThe relevance of the study as well as the advantages and disadvantages of several aspects of the chosen design are discussed, for example, the personalized approach and choice of measurements.Trial RegistrationNetherlands Trial Register NTR6272; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=6272 (Archived by WebCite http://www.webcitation.org/6ytA937m5)Registered Report IdentifierRR1-10.2196/9595

Spatial representations of the viewer\u2019s surroundings

Spatial representation surrounding a viewer including outside the visual field is crucial for moving around the three-dimensional world. To obtain such spatial representations, we predict that there is a learning process that integrates visual inputs from different viewpoints covering all the 360° visual angles. We report here the learning effect of the spatial layouts on six displays arranged to surround the viewer, showing shortening of visual search time on surrounding layouts that are repeatedly used (contextual cueing effect). The learning effect is found even in the time to reach the display with the target as well as the time to reach the target within the target display, which indicates that there is an implicit learning effect on spatial configurations of stimulus elements across displays. Since, furthermore, the learning effect is found between layouts and the target presented on displays located even 120° apart, this effect should be based on the representation that covers visual information far outside the visual field.

The effects of explicit and implicit vocabulary learning through movies on Learners' vocabulary knowledge.

The effects of explicit and implicit vocabulary learning through movies on Learners' vocabulary knowledge.

On the limits of statistical learning: Intertrial contextual cueing is confined to temporally close contingencies.

Since the seminal study by Chun and Jiang (Cognitive Psychology, 36, 28-71, 1998), a large body of research based on the contextual-cueing paradigm has shown that the cognitive system is capable of extracting statistical contingencies from visual environments. Most of these studies have focused on how individuals learn regularities found within an intratrial temporal window: A context predicts the target position within a given trial. However, Ono, Jiang, and Kawahara (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 31, 703-712, 2005) provided evidence of an intertrial implicit-learning effect when a distractor configuration in preceding trials N - 1 predicted the target location in trials N. The aim of the present study was to gain further insight into this effect by examining whether it occurs when predictive relationships are impeded by interfering task-relevant noise (Experiments 2 and 3) or by a long delay (Experiments 1, 4, and 5). Our results replicated the intertrial contextual-cueing effect, which occurred in the condition of temporally close contingencies. However, there was no evidence of integration across long-range spatiotemporal contingencies, suggesting a temporal limitation of statistical learning.

EFFECTS OF IMPLICIT, EXPLICIT AND SEQUENTIAL LEARNING IN THE ACQUISITION OF THE BASKETBALL SHOOTING SKILL IN NOVICES

This study aims to examine the effect of explicit and implicit learning in children, as well as a sequential application of learning modes, in the acquisition of the basketball shooting skill in an ecological setting. Participants (n=80) were novices in basketball, ages 9 to 12 years old. The experimental groups followed one of the three different methods of training, which combined technical and tactical aspects: (a) explicit, (b) implicit, or (c) sequential (implicit first and then explicit). The control group participated only in the measurements. A pre-test and a post-test measured the performance of basketball shooting skills in isolation. A transfer test in a 3-on-3 game condition was also applied. Results indicate that all intervention groups improved in a similar manner as a consequence of practice and there was no difference between the groups in the performance of the basketball shooting skill in isolation and under game condition. The sequential group obtained a performance drop similar to the explicit group in the transfer test, which may be due to the amount of explicit knowledge accumulated by them. The current findings indicate similar effects of implicit and explicit motor learning when they are applied in complex environments with children.

애니메이션 영화를 활용한 영어어휘 학습이 중학교 수준별 학습자에게 미치는 영향

This study aims to investigate the effects of explicit and implicit vocabulary learning through animation movies on middle school English language learners. One-hundred learners in two different proficiency levels were divided into explicit and implicit vocabulary learning groups. Their outcome was measured in terms of productive/receptive vocabulary knowledge as well as contextualized/ non-contextualized vocabulary knowledge. The findings of the study indicate that although there was no significant differences between explicit and implicit vocabulary learning in both high and low level learners, learners in different proficiency levels showed differences according to different test types. Specifically, high level learners’ performance in productive vocabulary knowledge were significantly better than that of low level learners. Additionally, high level learners showed better performance in contextualized type of questions, implying that they have acquired the strategy of using context in using vocabulary.

Structural priming in bilinguals

In this review, we examine how structural priming has been used to investigate the representation of first and second language syntactic structures in bilinguals. Most experiments suggest that structures that are identical in the first and second language have a single, shared mental representation. The results from structures that are similar but not fully identical are less clear, but they may be explained by assuming that first and second language representations are merely connected rather than fully shared. Some research has also used structural priming to investigate the representation of cognate words. We will also consider whether cross-linguistic structural priming taps into long-term implicit learning effects. Finally, we discuss recent research that has investigated how second language syntactic representations develop as learners’ proficiency increases.

Parameter recovery, bias and standard errors in the linear ballistic accumulator model.

The linear ballistic accumulator (LBA) model (Brown & Heathcote, , Cogn. Psychol., 57, 153) is increasingly popular in modelling response times from experimental data. An R package, glba, has been developed to fit the LBA model using maximum likelihood estimation which is validated by means of a parameter recovery study. At sufficient sample sizes parameter recovery is good, whereas at smaller sample sizes there can be large bias in parameters. In a second simulation study, two methods for computing parameter standard errors are compared. The Hessian-based method is found to be adequate and is (much) faster than the alternative bootstrap method. The use of parameter standard errors in model selection and inference is illustrated in an example using data from an implicit learning experiment (Visser etal., , Mem. Cogn., 35, 1502). It is shown that typical implicit learning effects are captured by different parameters of the LBA model.

IMPLICIT LEARNING IN THE CROWD

AbstractA growing field of research has made use of a semiartificial language paradigm to investigate the role of awareness in L2 acquisition. A central and empirically still unresolved issue in this field concerns the possibility of learning implicitly, that is, without intention to learn and without awareness of what has been learned. Up until now, studies on implicit learning have mainly been conducted in laboratory settings under highly controlled conditions with university students as participants. The present study investigated whether and to what extent the results obtained in such settings can be extrapolated to the general population. Building on Williams (2005), we designed two crowdsourcing experiments that examined the learning of novel form-meaning mappings under incidental conditions in 163 participants. Our design allowed us to disentangle the effects of awareness at the level of noticing and understanding. The results of the two experiments demonstrated the implicit learning effect outside the lab in a more varied sample of participants and indicated that awareness at both levels appears to have a facilitative effect on learning outcomes.

Differential Processing for Actively Ignored Pictures and Words.

Previous work suggests that, when attended, pictures may be processed more readily than words. The current study extends this research to assess potential differences in processing between these stimulus types when they are actively ignored. In a dual-task paradigm, facilitated recognition for previously ignored words was found provided that they appeared frequently with an attended target. When adapting the same paradigm here, previously unattended pictures were recognized at high rates regardless of how they were paired with items during the primary task, whereas unattended words were later recognized at higher rates only if they had previously been aligned with primary task targets. Implicit learning effects obtained by aligning unattended items with attended task-targets may apply only to conceptually abstract stimulus types, such as words. Pictures, on the other hand, may maintain direct access to semantic information, and are therefore processed more readily than words, even when being actively ignored.

Different Effects of Implicit and Explicit Motor Sequence Learning on Latency of Motor Evoked Potential Evoked by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on the Primary Motor Cortex.

Motor training induces plastic changes in the primary motor cortex (M1). However, it is unclear whether and how the latency of motor-evoked potentials (MEP) and MEP amplitude are affected by implicit and/or explicit motor learning. Here, we investigated the changes in M1 excitability and MEP latency induced by implicit and explicit motor learning. The subjects performed a serial reaction time task (SRTT) with their five fingers. In this task, visual cues were lit up sequentially along with a predetermined order. Through training, the subjects learned the order of sequence implicitly and explicitly. Before and after the SRTT, we recorded MEP at 25 stimulation points around the hot spot for the flexor pollicis brevis (FPB) muscle. Although no changes in MEP amplitude were observed in either session, we found increases in MEP latency and changes in histogram of MEP latency after implicit learning. Our results suggest that reorganization across the motor cortices occurs during the acquisition of implicit knowledge. In contrast, acquisition of explicit knowledge does not appear to induce the reorganization based on the measures we recorded. The fact that the above mentioned increases in MEP latency occurred without any alterations in MEP amplitude suggests that learning has different effects on different physiological signals. In conclusion, our results propose that analyzing a combination of some indices of M1 excitability, such as MEP amplitude and MEP latency, is encouraged in order to understand plasticity across motor cortices.

Implicit learning with certificate warning messages on SSL web pages: what are they teaching?

AbstractSSL‐based web services are the most common technology in secure transactions on the Internet today. The security level of these services is inevitably related with that of digital certificates and user awareness. With the high number of nonconforming digital certificate usage, which eventually invokes warning messages on the Internet, users are implicitly forced to develop unsecure usage habits. In this study, we have studied the implicit learning effect of certificate warning messages on the SSL web pages. We have conducted two different experimental studies on university students and on instructors in IT departments. The results point to acquired indifference towards these warnings in users. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

The PCA learning effect: An emerging correlate of face memory during childhood

Human adults implicitly learn the prototype and the principal components of the variability distinguishing faces (Gao & Wilson, 2014). Here we measured the implicit learning effect in adults and 9-year-olds, and with a modified child-friendly procedure, in 7-year-olds. All age groups showed the implicit learning effect by falsely recognizing the average (the prototype effect) and the principal component faces as having been seen (the PCA learning effect). The PCA learning effect, but not the prototype effect increased between 9years of age and adulthood and at both ages was the better predictor of memory for the actually studied faces. In contrast, for the 7-year-olds, the better predictor of face memory was the prototype effect. The pattern suggests that there may be a developmental change between ages 7 and 9 in the mechanism underlying memory for faces. We provide the first evidence that children as young as age 7 can extract the most important dimensions of variation represented by principal components among individual faces, a key ability that grows stronger with age and comes to underlie memory for faces.

Effects of working memory load on uncertain decision-making: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task.

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) simulates uncertain gains and losses in real life situations and thus is a good measure of uncertain decision-making. The role of working memory (WM) in IGT performance still remains unclear. The present study aimed to examine the effect of WM on IGT performance. Three groups of participants matched on gender ratio were randomly assigned to no WM load, low WM load, and high WM load conditions. Initially the three groups did not show significant difference in WM capacity. They finished a modified version of IGT and then their implicit learning effect and explicit cognition on IGT were assessed. Results indicated a linear increasing trend of IGT performance among high WM load, low WM load and no WM load groups; participants in the no WM load and low WM load groups revealed implicit learning effect, while participants in the high WM load group did not; all participants showed explicit cognition on IGT to the same level. These results suggested that participants in the high WM load group showed good explicit cognition to IGT but showed poor performance. This pattern is similar to frontal patients. Further studies should be conducted to explore this issue.