Abstract
Subjects exposed to members of a structured domain become sensitive to the general structure of that domain, even when they are unaware that the domain has such structure (e.g., Reber, 1993). Numerous investigators have attempted to characterize this learning as unselective in acquisition and automatic in application. However, we contend that this characterization miscasts the fundamental nature of learning. In a series of experiments, we demonstrate that what subjects learn implicitly about the structure of a domain critically depends on decisions they make about how to organize the structural components. Similarly, the application of knowledge gained implicitly is not stable, but may be selected or even created under the demands of the test task. We conclude that implicit learning, just like explicit learning, proceeds through active organization of the stimulus complex, rather than by passively absorbing any level of structure. We propose a synthesis, in which learning, with and without awareness, is understood through a common set of principles.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berry, D. C., &Broadbent, D. E. (1988). Interactive tasks and the implicit-explicit distinction.British Journal of Psychology,79, 251–272.
Berry, D. C., &Dienes, Z. (1993).Implicit learning: Theoretical and empirical issues. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Brooks, L. R. (1978). Non-analytic concept formation and memory for instances. In E. H. Rosch & B. B. Lloyd (Eds.),Cognition and categorization (pp. 169–211). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Brooks, L. R. (1987). Decentralized control of categorization: The role of prior processing episodes. In U. Neisser (Ed.),Concepts and conceptual development: Ecological and intellectual factors in categorization (pp. 141–174). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brooks, L. R., &Vokey, J. R. (1991). Abstract analogies and abstracted grammars: Comments on Reber (1989) and Mathews et al. (1989).Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,120, 316–323.
Cleeremans, A. (1993).Mechanisms of implicit learning: Connectionist models of sequence processing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Cock, J. J., Berry, D. C., &Gaffan, E. A. (1994). New strings for old: The role of similarity processing in an incidental learning task.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,47A, 1015–1034.
Dienes, Z. (1992). Connnectionist and memory array models of artificial grammar learning.Cognitive Science,16, 41–79.
Dulany, D. E., Carlson, R. A., &Dewey, G. I. (1984). A case of syntactical learning and judgment: How conscious and how abstract?Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,113, 541–555.
Gordon, P. C., &Holyoak, K. J. (1983). Implicit learning and generalization of the “mere exposure” effect.Journal of Personality & Social Psychology,45, 492–500.
Hayes, N., &Broadbent, D. E. (1988). Two modes of learning for interactive tasks.Cognition,28, 249–276.
Howard, J. H., &Ballas, J. A. (1982). Acquisition of acoustic pattern categories by exemplar observation.Organizational Behavior & Human Performance,30, 157–182.
Jacoby, L. L. (1983). Remembering the data: Analyzing interactive processes in reading.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,22, 485–508.
Jacoby, L. L., &Bartz, W. H. (1972). Encoding processes and the negative recency effect.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,11, 561–565.
Jacoby, L. L., &Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,110, 306–340.
Kahneman, D., &Miller, D. T. (1986). Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives.Psychological Review,93, 136–153.
Knowlton, B. J., &Squire, L. R. (1994). The information acquired during artificial grammar learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,20, 79–91.
Kolers, P. A., &Smythe, W. E. (1984). Symbol manipulation: Alternatives to the computational view.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,21, 289–314.
Lewicki, P. (1986).Nonconscious social information processing. New York: Academic Press.
Lewicki, P., &Hill, T. (1989). On the status of nonconscious processes in human cognition: Comment on Reber.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,118, 239–241.
Manza, L., & Reber, A. S. (1992).Inter- and intra-modal transfer of an implicitly acquired rule system. Unpublished manuscript, Brooklyn City College.
Mathews, R. C., Buss, R. R., Stanley, W. B., Blanchard-Fields, F., Cho, J. R., &Druhan, B. (1989). Role of implicit and explicit processes in learning from examples: A synergistic effect.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 1083–1100.
Mathews, R. C., Druhan, B. B., & Roussel, L. G. (1989, November).Forgetting is learning: Evaluation of three induction algorithms for learning artificial grammar. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston.
Mathews, R. C., &Roussel, L. G. (1993). Automatic abstraction of stimulus structure from episodes: Comment on Whittlesea and Dorken.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,122, 397–400.
McGeorge, P., &Burton, A. M. (1990). Semantic processing in an incidental learning task.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,42, 597–610.
Morris, C. D., Bransford, J. D., &Franks, J. J. (1977). Levels of processing versus transfer-appropriate processing.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,16, 519–533.
Nissen, M. J., &Bullemer, P. (1987). Attentional requirements of learning: Evidence from performance measures.Cognitive Psychology,19, 1–32.
Perruchet, P., &Pacteau, C. (1990). Synthetic grammar learning: Implicit rule abstraction or explicit fragmentary knowledge?Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,119, 264–275.
Perruchet, P., &Pacteau, C. (1991). The implicit acquisition of abstract knowledge about artificial grammar: Some methodological and conceptual issues.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,120, 112–116.
Reber, A. S. (1969). Transfer of syntactic structure in synthetic languages.Journal of Experimental Psychology,81, 115–119.
Reber, A. S. (1976). Implicit learning of synthetic languages: The role of instructional set.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning & Memory,2, 88–94.
Reber, A. S. (1989). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,118, 219–235.
Reber, A. S. (1993).Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: An essay on the cognitive unconscious. New York: Oxford University Press.
Reber, A. S., &Allen, R. (1978). Analogic and abstraction strategies in synthetic grammar learning: A functionalist interpretation.Cognition,6, 193–221.
Reber, A. S., &Lewis, S. (1997). Toward a theory of implicit learning: The analysis of the form and structure of a body of tacit knowledge.Cognition,5, 333–361.
Roediger, H. L., III, &Challis, B. H. (1992). Effects of exact repetition and conceptual repetition on free recall and primed word fragment completion.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,18, 3–14.
Roediger, H. L., III,Weldon, M. S., &Challis, B. H. (1989). Explaining dissociations between implicit and explicit measures of retention: A processing account. In H. L. Roediger III & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.),Varieties of memory and consciousness: Essays in honour of Endel Tulving (pp. 3–41). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Servan-Schreiber, E., &Anderson, J. R. (1990). Learning artificial grammars with competitive chunking.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,16, 592–608.
Tulving, E. (1995). Organization of memory: Quo vadis? In M. Gazzaniga (Ed.),The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 839–847). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vokey, J. R., &Brooks, L. R. (1992). Salience of item knowledge in learning artificial grammars.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,18, 328–344.
Whittlesea, B. W. A., &Dorken, M. D. (1993). Incidentally, things in general are particularly determined: An episodic-processing account of implicit learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,122, 227–248.
Whittlesea, B. W. A., &Wright, R. L. (1997). Implicit (and explicit) learning: Acting adaptively without knowing the consequences.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,23, 181–200.
Wright, R. L., &Burton, A. M. (1995). Implicit learning of an invariant: Just say no.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,48, 783–796.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by a grant to B.W.A.W. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
—Accepted by previous editor, Geoffrey R. Loftus
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wright, R.L., Whittlesea, B.W.A. Implicit learning of complex structures: active adaptation and selective processing in acquisition and application. Mem Cogn 26, 402–420 (1998). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201149
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201149