The ability of the brain to extract patterns from the environment and predict future events, known as statistical learning, has been proposed to interact in a competitive manner with prefrontal lobe-related networks and their characteristic cognitive or executive functions. However, it remains unclear whether these cognitive functions also possess…

"Statistical Learning" (SL) involves the extraction of organizing principles from a set of inputs. Recent advances in SL suggest that SL is a componential construct. To better characterize the componential nature of SL, a strategy may be to turn to literature regarding memory and learning. The current study sought to extend the…

Despite the empirical evidence for the power of the cognitive capacity of implicit learning of structures and regularities in several modalities and materials, it remains controversial whether implicit learning extends to the learning of temporal structures and regularities. We investigated whether (a) an artificial grammar can be learned equally…

Researchers have investigated the promise of unimodal and bimodal input in enhancing vocabulary learning from meaning-focused activities. Compared to unimodal input, the simultaneous presentation of written and aural input in bimodal input has been argued to direct L2 learners' attention to words and enhance the form-meaning links for new…

Recent fMRI studies have found that distinct neural systems may mediate perceptual category learning under implicit and explicit learning conditions. In these previous studies, however, different stimulus-encoding processes may have been associated with implicit versus explicit learning. The present design was aimed at decoupling the influence of…

This publication includes two studies. The first experiment involved the prediction of mixed schema learning in a reproduction task. Subjects (Ss) learned to distinguish among the schemata without knowledge of resuts. A best fitting equation describing performance as a function of number of reproduction trials accurately predicted learning with…

Research supported in part by a Public Health Service Fellowship (MH-6668) and by Grant M-3519 from the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Public Health Service.

Recent findings [Turcotte, Gagnon, & Poirier, 2005. The effect of old age on the learning of supra-span sequences. "Psychology and Aging," 20, 251-260.] indicate that incidental learning of visuo-spatial supra-span sequences through immediate serial recall declines with old age (Hebb's paradigm). In this study, we examined whether…

The relationship between placement of adjunct questions in instructional material and incidental and intentional learning was investigated. A total of 150 undergraduate students assigned to five experimental groups studied ten paragraphs with questions interspersed at different locations in the text. Performance on incidental items was…

Research indicates that classroom controversy facilitates student problem solving, creativity, perspective taking, epistemic curiosity, conceptual conflict, and transition in stages of cognitive and moral reasoning. Thus, creating controversy is an important teaching strategy for increasing learning and intellectual development. Conditions…

Two criteria for the automatic encoding of learning, instructional manipulation, and stimulus characteristics were studied in subjects who judged the frequency of occurrence of words, letters, and nonwords. In Experiment 1, six word lists were constructed with varying frequency of alphabet letters. A variety of instructions were presented (whether…

Examines whether students spontaneously focus on and acquire meanings for unknown words encountered in text. Indicates that, while the intentional learning group made the greatest gains, the incidental learning group acquired some knowledge and confidence. Shows that the control group gained little in either case. Provides support for incidental…