Working memory affects anticipatory behavior during implicit pattern learning

Medimorec, Srdan; Milin, Petar; Divjak, Dagmar

doi:10.1007/s00426-019-01251-w

Cited by 10 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…Subjects were not alerted when they moved from one phase into the next. At debrief, some participants seemed aware that they had been exposed to a pattern, but no one was able to recall it explicitly nor use linguistic labels to name the positions (this is in line with recent findings from Medimorec, Milin, & Divjak, in press).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring and Exploiting Uncertainty: Statistical Learning Ability Affects How We Learn to Process Language Along Multiple Dimensions of Experience

Divjak

Milin

2020

Cognitive Science

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While the effects of pattern learning on language processing are well known, the way in which pattern learning shapes exploratory behavior has long gone unnoticed. We report on the way in which individual differences in statistical pattern learning affect performance in the domain of language along multiple dimensions. Analyzing data from healthy monolingual adults' performance on a serial reaction time task and a self-paced reading task, we show how individual differences in statistical pattern learning are reflected in readers' knowledge of linguistic co-occurrence patterns and in their exploration and exploitation of content-specific and task-general information. First, we investigated the extent to which an individual's pattern learning correlates with his or her sensitivity to systematic morphological and syntactic co-occurrences, as evidenced while reading authentic sentences. We found that the stream of morphological and syntactic information has a more pronounced effect on the reading speed of, as we will label them, content-sensitive learners in that the more probable the co-occurrence pattern, the faster their reading of that pattern will be. Next, we investigated how differences in pattern learning are reflected in the ways in which individuals approach the reading task itself and adapt to it. Casting this relation in terms of exploration/exploitation strategies, known from Reinforcement Learning, we conclude that content-sensitive learners are also more likely to initially probe (explore) a wider range of directly relevant patterns, which they can later use (exploit) to optimize their reading performance further. By affecting exploratory behavior, pattern learning influences the information that is gathered and becomes available for exploitation, thereby increasing the effect pattern learning has on language cognition. Correspondence should be sent to

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 7 7 Recent work has found, indeed, that the length of successive correct predictions in an oculomotor SRT task is correlated to working memory capacity, with lower working memory capacity yielding shorter chunks of successive correct predictions (cf. Medimorec et al, in press). …”

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confidence: 99%

Exploring and Exploiting Uncertainty: Statistical Learning Ability Affects How We Learn to Process Language Along Multiple Dimensions of Experience

Divjak

Milin

2020

Cognitive Science

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“…However, usage-based approaches posit that human skills are highly plastic and shaped by experience (Evans and Levinson, 2009;Dąbrowska, 2015;Dąbrowska, 2018). Recent research has highlighted that language attainment within adult native speakers is modulated by both endogenous constraints (e.g., executive functions, statistical learning abilities, personality traits) and exogenous, experience-related variables (notably, the quality and quantity of the input) (Andringa and Dąbrowska, 2019;Dąbrowska, 2019;Frost et al, 2019;Medimorec et al, 2019;Divjak and Milin, 2020;Kidd and Donnelly, 2020;Ryskin et al, 2020;Kerz and Wiechmann, 2021).…”

Section: Experience-based Individual Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usage-Based Individual Differences in the Probabilistic Processing of Multi-Word Sequences

McConnell

Blumenthal-Dramé

2021

Front. Commun.

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While it is widely acknowledged that both predictive expectations and retrodictive integration influence language processing, the individual differences that affect these two processes and the best metrics for observing them have yet to be fully described. The present study aims to contribute to the debate by investigating the extent to which experienced-based variables modulate the processing of word pairs (bigrams). Specifically, we investigate how age and reading experience correlate with lexical anticipation and integration, and how this effect can be captured by the metrics of forward and backward transition probability (TP). Participants read more and less strongly associated bigrams, paired in sets of four to control for known lexical covariates such as bigram frequency and semantic meaning (i.e., absolute control, total control, absolute silence, total silence) in a self-paced reading (SPR) task. They additionally completed assessments of exposure to print text (Author Recognition Test, Shipley vocabulary assessment, Words that Go Together task) and provided their age. Results show that both older age and lesser reading experience individually correlate with stronger TP effects. Moreover, TP effects differ across the spillover region (the two words following the noun in the bigram).

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“…The results demonstrated faster RTs on the sequenced block for the push group compared to the watch group, supporting the notion that motor engagement is critical in sequence learning (although both groups responded manually in the transfer phase, making this a potential confounding factor). More recent studies have used oculomotor versions of the SRT task, where participants were instructed to follow the target on the screen with their eyes (Kinder et al, 2008; Marcus et al, 2006; Medimorec et al, 2021a; Vakil et al, 2017). While avoiding manual responses, the oculomotor versions of the SRT task do involve motor action, similar to the pattern observation version described above.…”

Section: Implicit Sequence Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibition of Eye Movements Disrupts Spatial Sequence Learning

Medimorec

Milin

Divjak

2021

Experimental Psychology

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Abstract. Implicit sequence learning is an integral part of human experience, yet the nature of the mechanisms underlying this type of learning remains a matter of debate. In the current study, we provide a test for two accounts of implicit sequence learning, that is, one that highlights sequence learning in the absence of any motor responses (with suppressed eye movements) and one that highlights the relative contribution of the motor processes (i.e., eye movements) to learning. To adjudicate between these accounts and determine whether a motor response is a requisite process in sequence learning, we used anticipation measures to compare performance on the standard oculomotor serial reaction time (SRT) task and on a version of the SRT task where the eye movements were restricted during the learning phase. our results demonstrated an increased proportion of correct anticipations in the standard SRT task compared to the restricted-movement task.

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Working memory affects anticipatory behavior during implicit pattern learning

Cited by 10 publications

References 62 publications

Exploring and Exploiting Uncertainty: Statistical Learning Ability Affects How We Learn to Process Language Along Multiple Dimensions of Experience

Exploring and Exploiting Uncertainty: Statistical Learning Ability Affects How We Learn to Process Language Along Multiple Dimensions of Experience

Usage-Based Individual Differences in the Probabilistic Processing of Multi-Word Sequences

Inhibition of Eye Movements Disrupts Spatial Sequence Learning

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