Goujon, A. . 1 , Thomas, C. . 2 & Didierjean, A. . 2
1 Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition CNRS & Université Paul Sabatier
2 Université de Franche-Comté
Using an inter-trial contextual cueing procedure (Chun & Jiang, 1998; Ono
et al., 2005), we examined the extent to which implicit statistical
learning can rely on spatial contingencies related to elements that are
not temporally and spatially adjacent. In support of a previous study, we
demonstrated the existence of spatial contextual cueing when a repeated
configuration of distractors predicted the target location on the
subsequent trial. However, we failed to observe a learning effect when a
search trial or a delay of 3000ms was introduced between a repeated
context and the associated target location. Those findings are consistent
with the literature showing the strong sensitivity of spatial contextual
cueing to various types of interference. Combined with a large body of
research in the field of implicit learning, the difficulty to provide
evidence of integration across long-range spatio-temporal contingencies
suggests a limit of implicit statistical learning. In agreement with a
chunking approach of implicit statistical learning phenomena, to be bound
together, elements or events of experience might have to co-occur within a
short temporal window.