1
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Chen C, Lee VG. Stability of individual differences in implicitly guided attention. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024; 77:1332-1351. [PMID: 37572022 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231196463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/14/2023]
Abstract
Daily activities often occur in familiar environments, affording us an opportunity to learn. Laboratory studies have shown that people readily acquire an implicit spatial preference for locations that frequently contained a search target in the past. These studies, however, have focused on group characteristics, downplaying the significance of individual differences. In a pre-registered study, we examined the stability of individual differences in two variants of an implicit location probability learning (LPL) task. We tested the possibility that individual differences were stable in variants that shared the same search process, but not in variants involving different search processes. In Experiment 1, participants performed alternating blocks of T-among-Ls and 5-among-2s search tasks. Unbeknownst to them, the search target appeared disproportionately often in one region of space; the high-probability regions differed between the two tasks. LPL transferred between the two tasks. In addition, individuals who showed greater LPL in the T-task also did so in the 5-task and vice versa. In Experiment 2, participants searched for either a camouflaged-T against background noise or a well-segmented T among well-segmented Ls. These two tasks produced task-specific learning that did not transfer between tasks. Moreover, individual differences in learning did not correlate between tasks. Thus, LPL is associated with stable individual differences across variants, but only when the variants share common search processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Vanessa G Lee
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Center for Cognitive Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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2
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Zhou M, Zhang P, Mimeau C, Tong SX. Unraveling the complex interplay between statistical learning and working memory in Chinese children with and without dyslexia across different ages. Child Dev 2024. [PMID: 38818864 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
The relation between statistical learning and working memory in children with developmental dyslexia (DD) remains unclear. This study employed a distributional and a conditional statistical learning experiment and a working memory task to examine this relation in 651 Chinese 6- to 12-year-olds with and without DD (NDD = 199, 101 females; NwoDD = 452, 227 females; participated 2014-2019). Results showed working memory positively associated with recognizing high-predictable and familiar items in both groups, but negatively associated with recognizing unfamiliar items in the DD group only. These findings uncovered the complex interplay between statistical learning and working memory, demonstrating how different working memory abilities in children with and without DD relate to various statistical learning mechanisms at the item level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mei Zhou
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Puyuan Zhang
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Catherine Mimeau
- Department of Human Sciences, Arts and Communication, Université TÉLUQ, Quebec, Canada
| | - Shelley Xiuli Tong
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
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3
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Haile TM, Prat CS, Stocco A. One Size Does Not Fit All: Idiographic Computational Models Reveal Individual Differences in Learning and Meta-Learning Strategies. Top Cogn Sci 2024. [PMID: 38569120 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2022] [Revised: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Complex skill learning depends on the joint contribution of multiple interacting systems: working memory (WM), declarative long-term memory (LTM) and reinforcement learning (RL). The present study aims to understand individual differences in the relative contributions of these systems during learning. We built four idiographic, ACT-R models of performance on the stimulus-response learning, Reinforcement Learning Working Memory task. The task consisted of short 3-image, and long 6-image, feedback-based learning blocks. A no-feedback test phase was administered after learning, with an interfering task inserted between learning and test. Our four models included two single-mechanism RL and LTM models, and two integrated RL-LTM models: (a) RL-based meta-learning, which selects RL or LTM to learn based on recent success, and (b) a parameterized RL-LTM selection model at fixed proportions independent of learning success. Each model was the best fit for some proportion of our learners (LTM: 68.7%, RL: 4.8%, Meta-RL: 13.25%, bias-RL:13.25% of participants), suggesting fundamental differences in the way individuals deploy basic learning mechanisms, even for a simple stimulus-response task. Finally, long-term declarative memory seems to be the preferred learning strategy for this task regardless of block length (3- vs 6-image blocks), as determined by the large number of subjects whose learning characteristics were best captured by the LTM only model, and a preference for LTM over RL in both of our integrated-models, owing to the strength of our idiographic approach.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Chantel S Prat
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington Seattle
| | - Andrea Stocco
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington Seattle
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4
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Treves IN, Cannon J, Shin E, Li CE, Bungert L, O'Brien A, Cardinaux A, Sinha P, Gabrieli JDE. Autistic Adults Show Intact Learning on a Visuospatial Serial Reaction Time Task. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:1549-1557. [PMID: 36641542 PMCID: PMC10981634 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05894-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Some theories have proposed that autistic individuals have difficulty learning predictive relationships. We tested this hypothesis using a serial reaction time task in which participants learned to predict the locations of a repeating sequence of target locations. We conducted a large-sample online study with 61 autistic and 71 neurotypical adults. The autistic group had slower overall reaction times, but demonstrated sequence-specific learning equivalent to the neurotypical group, consistent with other findings of typical procedural memory in autism. The neurotypical group, however, made significantly more prediction-related errors early in the experiment when the stimuli changed from repeated sequences to random locations, suggesting certain limited behavioural differences in the learning or utilization of predictive relationships for autistic adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isaac N Treves
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street 46-4077, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
- Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
| | - Jonathan Cannon
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street 46-4077, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Eren Shin
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street 46-4077, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Cindy E Li
- Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
| | - Lindsay Bungert
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street 46-4077, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Amanda O'Brien
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street 46-4077, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
- Program in Speech and Hearing, Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Annie Cardinaux
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street 46-4077, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Pawan Sinha
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street 46-4077, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - John D E Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street 46-4077, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
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5
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Oliveira CM, Hayiou-Thomas ME, Henderson LM. Reliability of the serial reaction time task: If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024:17470218241232347. [PMID: 38311604 DOI: 10.1177/17470218241232347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
Procedural memory is involved in the acquisition and control of skills and habits that underlie rule and procedural learning, including the acquisition of grammar and phonology. The serial reaction time task (SRTT), commonly used to assess procedural learning, has been shown to have poor stability (test-retest reliability). We investigated factors that may affect the stability of the SRTT in adults. Experiment 1 examined whether the similarity of sequences learned in two sessions would impact stability: test-retest correlations were low regardless of sequence similarity (r < .31). Experiment 2 added a third session to examine whether individual differences in learning would stabilise with further training. There was a small (but nonsignificant) improvement in stability for later sessions (Sessions 1 and 2: r = .42; Sessions 2 and 3: r = .60). Stability of procedural learning on the SRTT remained suboptimal in all conditions, posing a serious obstacle to the use of this task as a sensitive predictor of individual differences and ultimately theoretical advance.
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6
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Özbeşer H, Tüzün EH, Dericioğlu B, Övgün ÇD. Effects of Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance and Conductive Education Treatment Approaches on Fine Motor Skills, Activity and Participation Limitations in Children with Down Syndrome: A Randomised Controlled Trial. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:168-181. [PMID: 36323991 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05781-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
This study aiming to compare the effectiveness of Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) and Conductive Education (CE) approaches on motor skills, activity limitation and participation restrictions in children with Down Syndrome (DS). Twelwe children were randomly assigned into two groups. Twelve-week CO-OP or CE intervention (period-1) followed by a 12-week washout period. Same interventions were crossed over for another 12 weeks (period-2). The Performance Quality Rating Scale (PQRS), Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition-Brief Form (BOT2-BF) were used for outcome measurements. CO-OP was effective in the improvement of task-specific activity performance, while both approaches have similar effects on the improvement of perceived performance, satisfaction, and motor skills performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hülya Özbeşer
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Cyprus International University, Via Mersin 10, 99258, Lefkoşa, Turkey.
| | - Emine Handan Tüzün
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Eastern Mediterranean University, Via Mersin 10, 99628, Famagusta, Turkey
| | - Burcu Dericioğlu
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Cyprus International University, Via Mersin 10, 99258, Lefkoşa, Turkey
| | - Çisel Demiralp Övgün
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Eastern Mediterranean University, Via Mersin 10, 99628, Famagusta, Turkey
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7
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Sun X, Fu Q. The Visual Advantage Effect in Comparing Uni-Modal and Cross-Modal Probabilistic Category Learning. J Intell 2023; 11:218. [PMID: 38132836 PMCID: PMC10744040 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11120218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
People rely on multiple learning systems to complete weather prediction (WP) tasks with visual cues. However, how people perform in audio and audiovisual modalities remains elusive. The present research investigated how the cue modality influences performance in probabilistic category learning and conscious awareness about the category knowledge acquired. A modified weather prediction task was adopted, in which the cues included two dimensions from visual, auditory, or audiovisual modalities. The results of all three experiments revealed better performances in the visual modality relative to the audio and audiovisual modalities. Moreover, participants primarily acquired unconscious knowledge in the audio and audiovisual modalities, while conscious knowledge was acquired in the visual modality. Interestingly, factors such as the amount of training, the complexity of visual stimuli, and the number of objects to which the two cues belonged influenced the amount of conscious knowledge acquired but did not change the visual advantage effect. These findings suggest that individuals can learn probabilistic cues and category associations across different modalities, but a robust visual advantage persists. Specifically, visual associations can be learned more effectively, and are more likely to become conscious. The possible causes and implications of these effects are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xunwei Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Qiufang Fu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China
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8
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Lee OS. Implicit Statistical Learning in L2 Sentence Processing: Individual Cognitive Differences. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2023; 52:1037-1060. [PMID: 37016091 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-023-09957-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
This study investigates whether statistical learning ability, conceptualized as a cognitive ability to learn regularities implicitly, is a good predictor for L2 learners' online language processing performance. Native-English-speaking adults, as a control group, and native-Korean-speaking adult L2 learners of English participated. They completed: (a) an artificial grammar learning task containing nonadjacent dependencies in sequences of non-words, to test statistical learning ability; and (b) a self-paced English reading task containing relative clauses (RC) in which the "filler" and the "gap" formed a long-distance dependency, to test language processing. Both tasks' stimuli were presented element-by-element to mimic the incremental nature of online language processing. The results for the L1 group show that higher accuracy scores on the artificial grammar learning task did not predict higher sentence comprehension scores. The results for the L2 group, however, show a marginally significant correlation between accuracy scores on the artificial grammar learning task and sentence comprehension scores. For both groups, the reading time difference between grammatical and ungrammatical items in the artificial grammar learning task did predict the speed of reading times for items with RCs with a long-distance dependency in the sentence processing task: Larger differences in RTs in the artificial grammar task correlated with slower reading at the critical region of English RCs. These findings suggest a similar mechanism for online first and second language processing of core syntactic phenomena and for statistical learning ability that involves implicitly tracking distributional relations across elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- On-Soon Lee
- Institute of General Edcation, Sunchon National University, 255 Jungang-ro, Sunchoen-si, Jellanam-do, Korea.
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9
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Lum JAG, Byrne LK, Barhoun P, Hyde C, Hill AT, Enticott PG, Clark GM. Resting state electroencephalography power correlates with individual differences in implicit sequence learning. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 58:2838-2852. [PMID: 37317510 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Neuroimaging resting state paradigms have revealed synchronised oscillatory activity is present even in the absence of completing a task or mental operation. One function of this neural activity is likely to optimise the brain's sensitivity to forthcoming information that, in turn, likely promotes subsequent learning and memory outcomes. The current study investigated whether this extends to implicit forms of learning. A total of 85 healthy adults participated in the study. Resting state electroencephalography was first acquired from participants before they completed a serial reaction time task. On this task, participants implicitly learnt a visuospatial-motor sequence. Permutation testing revealed a negative correlation between implicit sequence learning and resting state power in the upper theta band (6-7 Hz). That is, lower levels of resting state power in this frequency range were associated with superior levels of implicit sequence learning. This association was observed at midline-frontal, right-frontal and left-posterior electrodes. Oscillatory activity in the upper theta band supports a range of top-down processes including attention, inhibitory control and working memory, perhaps just for visuospatial information. Our results may be indicating that disengaging theta-supported top-down attentional processes improves implicit learning of visuospatial-motor information that is embedded in sensory input. This may occur because the brain's sensitivity to this type of information is optimally achieved when learning is driven by bottom-up processes. Moreover, the results of this study further demonstrate that resting state synchronised brain activity influences subsequent learning and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jarrad A G Lum
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Linda K Byrne
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Pamela Barhoun
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Christian Hyde
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Aron T Hill
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Peter G Enticott
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Gillian M Clark
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
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10
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Oliveira CM, Hayiou-Thomas ME, Henderson LM. The reliability of the serial reaction time task: meta-analysis of test-retest correlations. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:221542. [PMID: 37476512 PMCID: PMC10354485 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023]
Abstract
The Serial Reaction Time task, one of the most widely used tasks to index procedural memory, has been increasingly employed in individual differences research examining the role of procedural memory in language and other cognitive abilities. Yet, despite consistently producing robust procedural learning effects at the group level (i.e. faster responses to sequenced/probable trials versus random/improbable trials), these effects have recently been found to have poor reliability. In this meta-analysis (N = 7), comprising 719 participants (M = 20.81, s.d. = 7.13), we confirm this 'reliability paradox'. The overall retest reliability of the robust procedural learning effect elicited by the SRTT was found to be well below acceptable psychometric standards (r < 0.40). However, split-half reliability within a session is better, with an overall estimate of 0.66. There were no significant effects of sampling (participants' age), methodology (e.g. number of trials, sequence type) and analytical decisions (whether all trials were included when computing the procedural learning scores; using different indexes of procedural learning). Thus, despite producing robust effects at the group-level, until we have a better understanding of the factors that improve the reliability of this task using the SRTT for individual differences research should be done with caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cátia M. Oliveira
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, North Yorkshire, UK
| | | | - Lisa M. Henderson
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, North Yorkshire, UK
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11
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Liu H, Forest TA, Duncan K, Finn AS. What sticks after statistical learning: The persistence of implicit versus explicit memory traces. Cognition 2023; 236:105439. [PMID: 36934685 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2023] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
Abstract
Statistical learning is a powerful mechanism that extracts even subtle regularities from our information-dense worlds. Recent theories argue that statistical learning can occur through multiple mechanisms-both the conventionally assumed automatic process that precipitates unconscious learning, and an attention-dependent process that brings regularities into conscious awareness. While this view has gained popularity, there are few empirical dissociations of the hypothesized implicit and explicit forms of statistical learning. Here we provide strong evidence for this dissociation in two ways. First, we show in healthy adults (N = 60) that implicit and explicit traces have divergent consolidation trajectories, with implicit knowledge of structure strengthened over a 24-h period, while precise explicit representations tend to decay. Second, we demonstrate that repeated testing strengthens the retention of explicit representations but that implicit statistical learning is uninfluenced by testing. Together these dissociations provide much needed support for the reconceptualization of statistical learning as a multi-component construct.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen Liu
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, 4th floor, Sidney Smith Hall, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada
| | - Tess Allegra Forest
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, 4th floor, Sidney Smith Hall, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada
| | - Katherine Duncan
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, 4th floor, Sidney Smith Hall, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada
| | - Amy S Finn
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, 4th floor, Sidney Smith Hall, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada.
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12
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Pay attention and you might miss it: Greater learning during attentional lapses. Psychon Bull Rev 2022:10.3758/s13423-022-02226-6. [PMID: 36510094 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02226-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Attentional lapses have been found to impair everything from basic perception to learning and memory. Yet, despite the well-documented costs of lapses on cognition, recent work suggests that lapses might unexpectedly confer some benefits. One potential benefit is that lapses broaden our learning to integrate seemingly irrelevant content that could later prove useful-a benefit that prior research focusing only on goal-relevant memory would miss. Here, we measure how fluctuations in sustained attention influence the learning of seemingly goal-irrelevant content that competes for attention with target content. Participants completed a correlated flanker task in which they categorized central targets (letters or numbers) while ignoring peripheral flanking symbols that shared hidden probabilistic relationships with the targets. We found that across participants, higher rates of attentional lapses correlated with greater learning of the target-flanker relationships. Moreover, within participants, learning was more evident during attentional lapses. These findings address long-standing theoretical debates and reveal a benefit of attentional lapses: they expand the scope of learning and decisions beyond the strictly relevant.
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13
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Montuori LM, Montefiori L. Selecting for Learning Potential: Is Implicit Learning the New Cognitive Ability? J Intell 2022; 10:jintelligence10020024. [PMID: 35466237 PMCID: PMC9036310 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence10020024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
For decades, the field of workplace selection has been dominated by evidence that cognitive ability is the most important factor in predicting performance. Meta-analyses detailing the contributions of a wide-range of factors to workplace performance show that cognitive ability’s contribution is partly mediated by the learning of task-relevant skills and job-specific declarative knowledge. Further, there is evidence to suggest that this relationship is a function of task complexity, and partially mediated by learning performance in workplace induction and training activities. Simultaneously, evidence is mounting that stable individual differences in implicit learning exist, which are at least partially independent of traditional measures of intelligence. In this article we provide an overview of recent advances in our understanding of implicit learning, outline some of the advantages offered by its measurement, and highlight some of the challenges associated with its adoption as a measure of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lara Montefiori
- Department of Psychology & Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK;
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14
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Earle FS, Qi Z. Overnight changes to dual-memory processes reflected in speech-perceptual performance. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:231-243. [PMID: 34921334 PMCID: PMC10767754 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02418-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Adults' ability to attain and retain nonnative speech sound categories vary substantially among individuals. While we know that speech-perceptual skills play a role, we know less about how consolidation-related changes in acoustic-phonetic memory contribute to perceptual tasks. The goal of this investigation was to examine contributions of memory and perceptual skills to the perceptual performance on a trained nonnative speech contrast over two days. Twenty-one adult participants (ages 18-24) completed four different experiments. Three of these assessed learning and memory: visual statistical learning (implicit), visual object recognition (explicit), and nonnative (Hindi dental-retroflex) speech-sound training. Participants completed the learning tasks around 8 p.m., and performance was measured shortly after learning and again 12 hours later. On a separate day, participants completed a categorical perception task on a native (/a/-/e/) vowel continuum. Nonnative speech perception was associated with implicit learning performance when both were assessed shortly after learning, and associated with the retention of explicit memory when both were assessed after an overnight delay. Native speech-sounds were at least marginally associated with nonnative speech perception performance on both days, but with a stronger association observed with performance assessed on Day 2. These findings provide preliminary support for the interpretation that speech-sounds are encoded by at least two memory systems in parallel, but that perceptual performance may reflect acoustic-phonetic knowledge learned by different memory systems over time since exposure. Moreover, performance on speech perception tasks in both native and nonnative speech-sounds may rely on similar retrieval mechanisms for long-term storage of speech-sound information.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Sayako Earle
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, 540 S. College Ave. Suite 220BB, Newark, DE, 19713, USA.
| | - Zhenghan Qi
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Forsyth Building 228A, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Delaware, 125 E Main St, Newark, DE, 19716, USA
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15
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Weinberger AB, Green AE. Dynamic development of intuitions and explicit knowledge during implicit learning. Cognition 2021; 222:105008. [PMID: 34979373 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.105008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 12/11/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Implicit learning refers to learning without conscious awareness of the content acquired. Theoretical frameworks of human cognition suggest that intuitions develop based on incomplete perceptions of regularity during implicit learning and, in turn, lead to the development of more explicit, consciously-accessible knowledge. Surprisingly, however, this putative information processing pathway (i.e., implicit learning ➔ intuition ➔ explicit knowledge) has yet to be empirically demonstrated. The present study investigated the relationship between implicit learning, intuitions, and explicit knowledge using a modified Serial Reaction Time Task. Results indicate that intuitions of implicitly-learned patterns emerge prior to the development of explicit knowledge. Moreover, intuition timing and accuracy were significantly associated with accuracy of explicit reports. We did not, however, find that stronger implicit learners developed more accurate intuitions. Our findings suggest a crucial role of intuition in the formation of explicit knowledge from implicit learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam B Weinberger
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, United States of America; Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America.
| | - Adam E Green
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, United States of America
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16
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Abstract
Studies of unconscious mental processes often compare a performance measure (e.g., some assessment of perception or memory) with a measure of awareness (e.g., a verbal report or forced-choice response) of the critical cue or contingency taken either concurrently or separately. The resulting patterns of bivariate data across participants lend themselves to several analytic approaches for inferring the existence of unconscious mental processes, but it is rare for researchers to consider the underlying generative processes that might cause these patterns. We show that bivariate data are generally insufficient to discriminate single-process models, with a unitary latent process determining both performance and awareness, from dual-process models, comprising distinct latent processes for performance and awareness. Future research attempting to isolate and investigate unconscious processes will need to employ richer types of data and analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- David R Shanks
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, UK
| | - Simone Malejka
- Department of Psychology, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Miguel A Vadillo
- Departamento de Psicología Básica, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
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17
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Pálffy Z, Farkas K, Csukly G, Kéri S, Polner B. Cross-modal auditory priors drive the perception of bistable visual stimuli with reliable differences between individuals. Sci Rep 2021; 11:16943. [PMID: 34417496 PMCID: PMC8379237 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-96198-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
It is a widely held assumption that the brain performs perceptual inference by combining sensory information with prior expectations, weighted by their uncertainty. A distinction can be made between higher- and lower-level priors, which can be manipulated with associative learning and sensory priming, respectively. Here, we simultaneously investigate priming and the differential effect of auditory vs. visual associative cues on visual perception, and we also examine the reliability of individual differences. Healthy individuals (N = 29) performed a perceptual inference task twice with a one-week delay. They reported the perceived direction of motion of dot pairs, which were preceded by a probabilistic visuo-acoustic cue. In 30% of the trials, motion direction was ambiguous, and in half of these trials, the auditory versus the visual cue predicted opposing directions. Cue-stimulus contingency could change every 40 trials. On ambiguous trials where the visual and the auditory cue predicted conflicting directions of motion, participants made more decisions consistent with the prediction of the acoustic cue. Increased predictive processing under stimulus uncertainty was indicated by slower responses to ambiguous (vs. non-ambiguous) stimuli. Furthermore, priming effects were also observed in that perception of ambiguous stimuli was influenced by perceptual decisions on the previous ambiguous and unambiguous trials as well. Critically, behavioural effects had substantial inter-individual variability which showed high test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) > 0.78). Overall, higher-level priors based on auditory (vs. visual) information had greater influence on visual perception, and lower-level priors were also in action. Importantly, we observed large and stable differences in various aspects of task performance. Computational modelling combined with neuroimaging could allow testing hypotheses regarding the potential mechanisms causing these behavioral effects. The reliability of the behavioural differences implicates that such perceptual inference tasks could be valuable tools during large-scale biomarker and neuroimaging studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zsófia Pálffy
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1 Egry József utca, Building T, Floor 5, Budapest, 1111, Hungary.
| | - Kinga Farkas
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gábor Csukly
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Szabolcs Kéri
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1 Egry József utca, Building T, Floor 5, Budapest, 1111, Hungary
- National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictions, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Bertalan Polner
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1 Egry József utca, Building T, Floor 5, Budapest, 1111, Hungary
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18
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Safron A. The Radically Embodied Conscious Cybernetic Bayesian Brain: From Free Energy to Free Will and Back Again. ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2021; 23:783. [PMID: 34202965 PMCID: PMC8234656 DOI: 10.3390/e23060783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Revised: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Drawing from both enactivist and cognitivist perspectives on mind, I propose that explaining teleological phenomena may require reappraising both "Cartesian theaters" and mental homunculi in terms of embodied self-models (ESMs), understood as body maps with agentic properties, functioning as predictive-memory systems and cybernetic controllers. Quasi-homuncular ESMs are suggested to constitute a major organizing principle for neural architectures due to their initial and ongoing significance for solutions to inference problems in cognitive (and affective) development. Embodied experiences provide foundational lessons in learning curriculums in which agents explore increasingly challenging problem spaces, so answering an unresolved question in Bayesian cognitive science: what are biologically plausible mechanisms for equipping learners with sufficiently powerful inductive biases to adequately constrain inference spaces? Drawing on models from neurophysiology, psychology, and developmental robotics, I describe how embodiment provides fundamental sources of empirical priors (as reliably learnable posterior expectations). If ESMs play this kind of foundational role in cognitive development, then bidirectional linkages will be found between all sensory modalities and frontal-parietal control hierarchies, so infusing all senses with somatic-motoric properties, thereby structuring all perception by relevant affordances, so solving frame problems for embodied agents. Drawing upon the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference framework, I describe a particular mechanism for intentional action selection via consciously imagined (and explicitly represented) goal realization, where contrasts between desired and present states influence ongoing policy selection via predictive coding mechanisms and backward-chained imaginings (as self-realizing predictions). This embodied developmental legacy suggests a mechanism by which imaginings can be intentionally shaped by (internalized) partially-expressed motor acts, so providing means of agentic control for attention, working memory, imagination, and behavior. I further describe the nature(s) of mental causation and self-control, and also provide an account of readiness potentials in Libet paradigms wherein conscious intentions shape causal streams leading to enaction. Finally, I provide neurophenomenological handlings of prototypical qualia including pleasure, pain, and desire in terms of self-annihilating free energy gradients via quasi-synesthetic interoceptive active inference. In brief, this manuscript is intended to illustrate how radically embodied minds may create foundations for intelligence (as capacity for learning and inference), consciousness (as somatically-grounded self-world modeling), and will (as deployment of predictive models for enacting valued goals).
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Safron
- Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA;
- Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
- Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
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19
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Raising awareness about measurement error in research on unconscious mental processes. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 29:21-43. [PMID: 34131891 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01923-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Experimental psychologists often neglect the poor psychometric properties of the dependent measures collected in their studies. In particular, a low reliability of measures can have dramatic consequences for the interpretation of key findings in some of the most popular experimental paradigms, especially when strong inferences are drawn from the absence of statistically significant correlations. In research on unconscious cognition, for instance, it is commonly argued that the lack of a correlation between task performance and measures of awareness or explicit recollection of the target stimuli provides strong support for the conclusion that the cognitive processes underlying performance must be unconscious. Using contextual cuing of visual search as a case study, we show that given the low reliability of the dependent measures collected in these studies, it is usually impossible to draw any firm conclusion about the unconscious character of this effect from correlational analyses. Furthermore, both a psychometric meta-analysis of the available evidence and a cognitive-modeling approach suggest that, in fact, we should expect to see very low correlations between performance and awareness at the empirical level, even if both constructs are perfectly related at the latent level. Convincing evidence for the unconscious character of contextual cuing and other effects will most likely demand richer and larger data sets, coupled with more powerful analytic approaches.
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20
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Malejka S, Vadillo MA, Dienes Z, Shanks DR. Correlation analysis to investigate unconscious mental processes: A critical appraisal and mini-tutorial. Cognition 2021; 212:104667. [PMID: 33975175 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Revised: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
As a method to investigate the scope of unconscious mental processes, researchers frequently obtain concurrent measures of task performance and stimulus awareness across participants. Even though both measures might be significantly greater than zero, the correlation between them might not, encouraging the inference that an unconscious process drives task performance. We highlight the pitfalls of this null-correlation approach and provide a mini-tutorial on ways to avoid them. As reference, we use a recent study by Salvador et al. (2018) reporting a non-significant correlation between the extent to which memory was suppressed by a Think/No-Think cue and an index of cue awareness. In the Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) framework, it is inappropriate to interpret failure to reject the null hypothesis (i.e., correlation = 0) as evidence for the null. Furthermore, psychological measures are often unreliable, which can dramatically attenuate the size of observed correlations. A Bayesian approach can circumvent both problems and compare the extent to which the data provide evidence for the null versus the alternative hypothesis (i.e., correlation > 0), while considering the usually low reliabilities of the variables. Applied to Salvador et al.'s data, this approach indicates no to moderate support for the claimed unconscious nature of participants' memory-suppression performance-depending on the model of the alternative hypothesis. Hence, more reliable data are needed. When analyzing correlational data, we recommend researchers to employ the Bayesian methods developed here (and made freely available as R scripts), rather than standard NHST methods, to take account of unreliability.
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21
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A Study on Human Learning Ability during Classification of Motion and Colour Visual Cues and Their Combination. CYBERNETICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES 2021. [DOI: 10.2478/cait-2021-0006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The paper presents a study on the human learning process during the classification of stimuli, defined by motion and color visual cues and their combination. Because the classification dimension and the features that define each category are uncertain, we model the learning curves using Bayesian inference and more precisely the Normalized Conjunctive Consensus rule, and also on the base of the more efficient probabilistic Proportional Conflict Redistribution rule No 5 (pPCR5) defined within Dezert-Smarandache Theory (DSmT) of plausible and paradoxical reasoning. Our goal is to study how these rules succeed to model consistently both: human individual and group behaviour during the learning of the associations between the stimuli and the responses in categorization tasks varying by the amount of relevant stimulus information. The effect of age on this process is also evaluated.
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22
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Weinberger AB, Gallagher NM, Warren ZJ, English GA, Moghaddam FM, Green AE. Implicit pattern learning predicts individual differences in belief in God in the United States and Afghanistan. Nat Commun 2020; 11:4503. [PMID: 32908145 PMCID: PMC7481241 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18362-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2019] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Most humans believe in a god, but many do not. Differences in belief have profound societal impacts. Anthropological accounts implicate bottom-up perceptual processes in shaping religious belief, suggesting that individual differences in these processes may help explain variation in belief. Here, in findings replicated across socio-religiously disparate samples studied in the U.S. and Afghanistan, implicit learning of patterns/order within visuospatial sequences (IL-pat) in a strongly bottom-up paradigm predict 1) stronger belief in an intervening/ordering god, and 2) increased strength-of-belief from childhood to adulthood, controlling for explicit learning and parental belief. Consistent with research implicating IL-pat as a basis of intuition, and intuition as a basis of belief, mediation models support a hypothesized effect pathway whereby IL-pat leads to intuitions of order which, in turn, lead to belief in ordering gods. The universality and variability of human IL-pat may thus contribute to the global presence and variability of religious belief.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam B Weinberger
- Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, USA.
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
| | - Natalie M Gallagher
- Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, USA
- Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Zachary J Warren
- Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, USA
- The Asia Foundation, 1779 Massachusetts Ave NW #815, Washington, DC, 20036, USA
| | - Gwendolyn A English
- Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, USA
- ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, CH-8092, Switzerland
| | | | - Adam E Green
- Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, USA.
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24
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A positive influence of basal ganglia iron concentration on implicit sequence learning. Brain Struct Funct 2020; 225:735-749. [PMID: 32055981 PMCID: PMC7046582 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-020-02032-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Iron homeostasis is important for maintaining normal physiological brain functioning. In two independent samples, we investigate the link between iron concentration in the basal ganglia (BG) and implicit sequence learning (ISL). In Study 1, we used quantitative susceptibility mapping and task-related fMRI to examine associations among regional iron concentration measurements, brain activation, and ISL in younger and older adults. In Study 2, we examined the link between brain iron and ISL using a metric derived from fMRI in an age-homogenous sample of older adults. Three main findings were obtained. First, BG iron concentration was positively related to ISL in both studies. Second, ISL was robust for both younger and older adults, and performance-related activation was found in fronto-striatal regions across both age groups. Third, BG iron was positively linked to task-related BOLD signal in fronto-striatal regions. This is the first study investigating the relationship among brain iron accumulation, functional brain activation, and ISL, and the results suggest that higher brain iron concentration may be linked to better neurocognitive functioning in this particular task.
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