Implicit learning and aging.
Item
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Title
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Implicit learning and aging.
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Identifier
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AAI3144093
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identifier
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3144093
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Creator
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Fischman, Noam.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Arthur S. Reber
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Date
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2004
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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, Cognitive | Psychology, Developmental | Psychology, Experimental
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Abstract
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Reber's (1993) evolutionary theory of the cognitive unconscious posits that implicit learning should be more resistant to age-related decay than explicit learning. The goal of the study was to assess the effects of aging on implicit learning. Thirty one aged participants and 80 college undergraduates completed implicit and explicit learning tasks. The implicit task was a version of the Artificial Grammar (AG) paradigm and the explicit learning task was a sequence completion task. Participants were also assessed for processing speed and Working Memory (WM). The older participants were both slower and less accurate on the implicit and explicit tasks and were dramatically slower on the processing speed measures than the college undergraduates, but no age differences were found for the WM measures. Interpretation of the results from the explicit task were fairly straightforward, as age deficits were anticipated and revealed by the data. The results from the AG task however, raise many intriguing questions as the age deficit was not anticipated. Some of the other findings are used to explain the age deficit in AG performance. The younger participants often reported accurate explicit knowledge for some of the rules used in the artificial grammar, while the older participants tended to report little or no explicit knowledge of the rules. It is argued that the inability of the older adults to acquire explicit knowledge of the AG contributed to the age deficit. Furthermore, the results from a series of correlations performed between the processing speed measures and implicit and explicit task performance also suggest that processing speed is related to the AG performance of the older participants. These results are discussed in relation to the current theories of aging and implicit learning.
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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.
