A case of syntactical learning and judgment: How conscious and how abstract?

Abstract

This study examined two possible bases for grammatical judgments following syntactical learning: unconscious representations of a formal grammar, as in Reber's (1976) hypothesis of implicit learning, and conscious rules within informal grammars. Experimental subjects inspected strings generated by a finite-state grammar, viewed either one at a time or all at a time, with implicit or explicit learning instructions. In a transfer test, experimental and control subjects judged the grammatically of grammatical and nongrammatical strings, reporting on every trial the bases for their judgments. In replication of others' results, experimental subjects met the critical test for grammatical abstraction: significantly correct classification of novel strings. We found, however, that reported rules predicted those grammatical judgments without significant residual. Subjects evidently acquired correlated grammars, personal sets of conscious rules, each of limited scope and many of imperfect validity. Those rules themselves were shown to embody abstractions, consciously represented novelty that could account for

Cites (1)

1. On the relationship between implicit and explicit modes in the learning of a complex rule structure.
   Reber, Arthur S., Kassin, Saul M., Lewis, Selma, Cantor, Gary · 1980 · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory

Show all 1 references

Cited by (21)

1. Memory and the hippocampus: A synthesis from findings with rats, monkeys, and humans.
   Squire, Larry R. · 1992 · Psychological Review
2. The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning1
   SCHMIDT, R. W. · 1990 · Applied Linguistics
3. Implicit memory: History and current status.
   Schacter, Daniel L. · 1987 · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
4. Implicit learning and tacit knowledge
   Reber, Arthur S. · 1989 · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
5. Declarative and Nondeclarative Memory: Multiple Brain Systems Supporting Learning and Memory
   Squire, Larry R. · 1992 · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

See all 512