Batterink, L. , Reber, P. . & Paller, K.
Northwestern University
The presumed function of statistical learning is to optimize processing, allowing the brain to more accurately predict incoming input. In the present study, we ask whether the function of statistical learning may be enhanced through supplementary explicit training, in which regularities are explicitly taught rather than simply abstracted through passive exposure. Learners were passively exposed to a continuous stream of repeating nonsense words, with half of learners receiving additional explicit training on these nonsense words prior to exposure. The function of statistical learning was then assessed through a speeded reaction time (RT) task, which measured how well learners used their acquired statistical knowledge to optimize online processing. Both RTs and ERPs revealed significant differences as a function of training condition. RTs showed a significant crossover interaction, in which explicitly-trained participants responded more quickly to predictable targets but more slowly to unpredictable targets relative to implicitly-trained participants. Explicit participants also showed a larger P300 to predictable targets than implicit participants, suggesting greater recruitment of controlled, effortful processes. Taken together, these results suggest that the processing of information abstracted through passive exposure, as occurs during statistical learning, may occur more automatically and with less effort than information that is acquired explicitly.