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Relational learning with and without awareness: transitive inference using nonverbal stimuli in humans
A J Greene1, B A Spellman, J A Dusek
1University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22908-0420, USA.
Memory & Cognition
|November 22, 2001
Summary
Conscious awareness is not essential for flexible relational learning. Uninformed participants successfully performed transitive inference tasks without explicit knowledge of the task structure, suggesting non-conscious processes support complex learning.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Flexible learning and complex relationship representation resemble conscious learning.
- The necessity of conscious learning for representational flexibility remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether conscious awareness is required for flexible relational learning.
- To examine the role of conscious processes in transitive inference tasks.
Main Methods:
- Participants completed a transitive inference task with varying levels of information about the task structure.
- Performance was assessed by testing non-adjacent item pairs.
- Post-experimental questionnaires evaluated participants' awareness of the task structure.
Main Results:
- Informed participants, aware of the inferential nature of the task, outperformed uninformed participants.
- Crucially, uninformed participants' success in transitive inference did not correlate with their post-experimental awareness of the task structure.
Conclusions:
- Flexible relational learning, as demonstrated in transitive inference, can occur without conscious awareness.
- These findings challenge the assumption that conscious processes are indispensable for complex learning and representation.
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