Abstraction of covariations in incidental learning and covariation bias
Category
Journal Article
Authors
Perruchet, P., Pacteau, C., Gallego, J.
Year
1997
Title
Abstraction of covariations in incidental learning and covariation bias
Journal / book / conference
British Journal of Psychology
Abstract
Experiment 1 was devised to distinguish, in a given set of features composing drawn robots, those whose variations were related a priori for participants from those whose variations were a priori independent. In Expt 2, correlations were experimentally induced between a priori-related features for one group of participants (pre-primed up), and between a priori-independent features for another group (arbitrary group), in incidental learning conditions. A subsequent transfer phase revealed that participants' performances were sensitive to experimentally induced correlations in both groups. However, only the performances of the pre-primed group accurately matched the predictions of a statistical model devised by It. Richardson (e.g. Richardson & Carthy, 1990), postulating the acquisition of genuine knowledge of the correlational structure. Participants' sensitivity to arbitrary correlations appeared to be a by-product of the memory of specific study exemplars. These results demand the reinterpretation of some prior experimental evidence for covariation abstraction, and more generally, are consonant with a current view of implicit learning which emphasizes the role of specific prior episodes in complex learning situations.
Volume
88
Pages
441-458