Title | Deferred feedback sharply dissociates implicit and explicit category learning |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2014 |
Authors | J Smith, D., Boomer J., Zakrzewski A. C., Roeder J. L., Church B. A., & F Ashby G. |
Journal | Psychological Science |
Volume | 25 |
Issue | 2 |
Pagination | 447-457 |
Date Published | 2014 Feb |
ISSN | 1467-9280 |
Keywords | Adult, Association Learning, Concept Formation, Feedback, Psychological, Humans, Reinforcement (Psychology), Young Adult |
Abstract | The controversy over multiple category-learning systems is reminiscent of the controversy over multiple memory systems. Researchers continue to seek paradigms to sharply dissociate explicit category-learning processes (featuring category rules that can be verbalized) from implicit category-learning processes (featuring learned stimulus-response associations that lie outside declarative cognition). We contribute a new dissociative paradigm, adapting the technique of deferred-rearranged reinforcement from comparative psychology. Participants learned matched category tasks that had either a one-dimensional, rule-based solution or a multidimensional, information-integration solution. They received feedback either immediately or after each block of trials, with the feedback organized such that positive outcomes were grouped and negative outcomes were grouped (deferred-rearranged reinforcement). Deferred reinforcement qualitatively eliminated implicit, information-integration category learning. It left intact explicit, rule-based category learning. Moreover, implicit-category learners facing deferred-rearranged reinforcement turned by default and information-processing necessity to rule-based strategies that poorly suited their nominal category task. The results represent one of the strongest explicit-implicit dissociations yet seen in the categorization literature. |
DOI | 10.1177/0956797613509112 |
Alternate Journal | Psychol Sci |
PubMed ID | 24335605 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC3946254 |
Grant List | P01 NS044393 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States R01 HD061455 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States HD-060563 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States P01 HD060563 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States HD-061455 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States |