Procedural learning of unstructured categories

TitleProcedural learning of unstructured categories
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsCrossley, M. J., Madsen N. R., & F Ashby G.
JournalPsychonomic Bulletin & Review
Volume19
Issue6
Pagination1202-1209
Date Published2012 Dec
ISSN1531-5320
KeywordsHumans, Learning, Memory, Reaction Time
Abstract

Unstructured categories are those in which the stimuli are assigned to each contrasting category randomly, and thus there is no rule- or similarity-based strategy for determining category membership. Intuition suggests that unstructured categories are likely to be learned via explicit memorization that is under the control of declarative memory. In contrast to this prediction, neuroimaging studies of unstructured-category learning have reported task-related activation in the striatum, but typically not in the hippocampus--results that seem more consistent with procedural learning than with a declarative-memory strategy. This article reports the first known behavioral test of whether unstructured-category learning is mediated by explicit strategies or by procedural learning. Our results suggest that the feedback-based learning of unstructured categories is mediated by procedural memory.

DOI10.3758/s13423-012-0312-0
Alternate JournalPsychon Bull Rev
PubMed ID22965328
Grant ListP01NS044393 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States