Associations are formed among the items in a sequence over the course of learning, but these item-to-item associations are not sufficient to reproduce the order of the sequence (Lashley, 1951). Contemporary theories of serial order tend to omit these associations entirely. The current paper investigates whether item-to-item associations play a…

Sequential action makes up the bulk of human daily activity, and yet much remains unknown about how people learn such actions. In one motor learning paradigm, the serial reaction time (SRT) task, people are taught a consistent sequence of button presses by cueing them with the next target response. However, the SRT task only records keypress…

The aim of the present study was to investigate implicit learning processes among adults with developmental dyslexia (DD) using a visual linguistic artificial grammar learning (AGL) task. Specifically, it was designed to explore whether the intact learning reported in previous studies would also occur under conditions including minimal training…

Reconstructing memory for sequences is a complex process, likely involving multiple sources of information. In 3 experiments, we examined the source(s) of information that might underlie the ability to accurately place an event within a temporal context. The task was to estimate, after studying each list, the temporal position of a single test…

Learners make a number of decisions when attempting to study efficiently: they must choose which information to study, for how long to study it, and whether to restudy it later. The current experiments examine whether documented impairments to self-regulated learning when studying information sequentially, as opposed to simultaneously, extend to…

This dissertation examines the thesis that implicit learning plays a role in learning about scientific phenomena, and subsequently, in conceptual change. Decades of research in learning science demonstrate that a primary challenge of science education is overcoming prior, naive knowledge of natural phenomena in order to gain scientific…

Remembering the order of a sequence of events is a fundamental feature of episodic memory. Indeed, a number of formal models represent temporal context as part of the memory system, and memory for order has been researched extensively. Yet, the nature of the code(s) underlying sequence memory is still relatively unknown. Across 4 experiments that…

This study investigated the influence of cognitive support for learning computer-based tasks using animated demonstration (AD) on instructional efficiency. Cognitive support included (1) segmentation and learner control introducing interactive devices that allow content sequencing through a navigational menu, and content pacing through stop and…