Implicit learning of ignored visual context.

Humans process a visual display more efficiently when they encounter it for a second time, showing learning of the display. This study tests whether implicit learning of complex visual contexts depends on attention. Subjects searched for a white target among black and white distractors. When the locations of the target and the attended set (white distractors) were repeated, search speed was enhanced, but when the locations of the target and the ignored set (black distractors) were repeated, search speed was unaffected. This suggests that the expression of learning depends on attention. However, during the transfer test, when the previously ignored set now was attended, it immediately facilitated performance. In contrast, when the previously attended set now was ignored, it no longer enhanced search speed. We conclude that the expression of visual implicit learning depends on attention but that latent learning of repeated information does not.

[1]  Yuji Takeda,et al.  Selective learning of spatial configuration and object identity in visual search , 2004, Perception & psychophysics.

[2]  H. Egeth,et al.  Perception without attention: evidence of grouping under conditions of inattention. , 1997, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.

[3]  D. Simons,et al.  Failure to detect changes to attended objects in motion pictures , 1997 .

[4]  Ronald A. Rensink,et al.  TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE: The Need for Attention to Perceive Changes in Scenes , 1997 .

[5]  I. Rock,et al.  Inattentional blindness: Perception without attention. , 1998 .

[6]  E. Tolman.  Cognitive maps in rats and men. , 1948, Psychological review.

[7]  M. Chun,et al.  Contextual Cueing: Implicit Learning and Memory of Visual Context Guides Spatial Attention , 1998, Cognitive Psychology.

[8]  Richard I. Ivry,et al.  Attention and structure in sequence learning. , 1990 .

[9]  H. Egeth,et al.  Perception without attention: evidence of grouping under conditions of inattention. , 1997, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[10]  Edward K. Vogel,et al.  The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions , 1997, Nature.

[11]  Iwu Magazine.  Learning from Performance , 2003 .

[12]  M. Chun,et al.  Selective attention modulates implicit learning , 2001, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[13]  Jun-ichiro Kawahara,et al.  Contextual cueing in 3D layouts defined by binocular disparity , 2003 .

[14]  Allen Allport,et al.  Visual attention , 1989 .

[15]  E. Newport,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Article INCIDENTAL LANGUAGE LEARNING: Ustening (and Learning) out of the Comer of Your Ear , 2022 .

[16]  M. Nissen,et al.  Attentional requirements of learning: Evidence from performance measures , 1987, Cognitive Psychology.

[17]  Irvin Rock,et al.  The effect of inattention on form perception. , 1981 .

[18]  Axel Buchner,et al.  Learning versus behavioral expression of the learned: The effects of a secondary tone-counting task on implicit learning in the serial reaction task , 1998 .

[19]  M. A. Stadler,et al.  Role of attention in implicit learning. , 1995 .

[20]  L. Kamin.  Predictability, surprise, attention, and conditioning , 1967 .

[21]  A. Treisman,et al.  Visual memory for novel shapes: implicit coding without attention. , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[22]  J. Deutsch,et al.  Attention: Some theoretical considerations. , 1963 .

[23]  Dorit Wenke,et al.  A secondary tone-counting task suppresses expression of knowledge in the serial reaction task , 1999 .

[24]  D. Shanks,et al.  Effects of a secondary task on "implicit" sequence learning: learning or performance? , 2002, Psychological research.

[25]  M. Chun,et al.  Implicit, long-term spatial contextual memory. , 2003, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[26]  A. Treisman,et al.  A feature-integration theory of attention , 1980, Cognitive Psychology.