On the representation of implicitly acquired knowledge: Transfer across stimulus forms and modalities.
Item
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Title
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On the representation of implicitly acquired knowledge: Transfer across stimulus forms and modalities.
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Identifier
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AAI9304700
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identifier
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9304700
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Creator
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Manza, Louis.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Arthur S. Reber
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Experimental
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Abstract
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Implicit learning is a process by which knowledge is acquired largely independent of consciousness of either the process of acquisition or the information ultimately acquired. A controversy has recently emerged over the issues concerning whether this tacitly held knowledge is represented in an exemplar, fragmentary, or abstractive manner. To determine which position(s) most accurately reflect(s) the form in which tacit knowledge is represented, four transfer experiments were conducted.;The general procedure for the four studies involved two phases, the first of which centered on the memorization of presented stimuli which were generated from a finite-state artificial grammar. During the second phase, subjects decided if presented stimuli adhered to the same rules that the memorized items followed. The aspect of this task that allowed insight into knowledge representation was that the training (Control) and testing (Transfer) items differed in their surface forms but retained basic underlying, structural commonalities.;The first two studies investigated transfer across different orthographic forms, by utilizing a between- (Experiment 1) and within- (Experiment 2) subjects design. The latter two studies focused on modality effects and implicit learning, as subjects had to attempt to transfer sensory information across modality-laden orthographic (Experiment 3), as well as spatial and temporal (Experiment 4) forms of stimuli. The overall hypotheses centered on determining if tacit knowledge is stored in (1) solely an abstract, exemplar-based, or fragmentary form, or if nonconscious information is (2) more likely stored as an eclectic mix of these three data forms.;Across all four studies, subjects exhibited positive transfer, although classification performance was better for Control items, in comparison to Transfer items. In addition, classification latencies, which were collected in Experiments 1, 2, and 4, revealed approximately equal reaction times in judging Transfer and Control items (with the exception of an initial block of trials in Experiment 1). This finding serves as a key element in the overall interpretation that exemplar-based components may play a vital role in the early stages of the development of a tacit system, with abstract elements assuming a dominant role at a later time.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
