scholarly journals What drives individual differences in statistical learning? The role of perceptual fluency and familiarity

Author(s):  
Amy Perfors ◽  
Evan Kidd

Humans have the ability to learn surprisingly complicated statistical information in a variety of modalities and situations, often based on relatively little input. These statistical learning (SL) skills appear to underlie many kinds of learning, but despite their ubiquity, we still do not fully understand precisely what SL is and what individual differences on SL tasks reflect. Here we present experimental work suggesting that at least some individual differences arise from variation in perceptual fluency — the ability to rapidly or efficiently code and remember the stimuli that statistical learning occurs over. We show that performance on a standard SL task varies substantially within the same (visual) modality as a function of whether the stimuli involved are familiar or not, independent of stimulus complexity. Moreover, we find that test-retest correlations of performance in a statistical learning task using stimuli of the same level of familiarity (but distinct items) are stronger than correlations across the same task with different levels of familiarity. Finally, we demonstrate that statistical learning performance is predicted by an independent measure of stimulus-specific perceptual fluency which contains no statistical learning component at all. Our results suggest that a key component of SL performance may be unrelated to either domain-specific statistical learning skills or modality-specific perceptual processing.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Perfors ◽  
Evan Kidd

Humans have the ability to learn surprisingly complicated statistical information in avariety of modalities and situations, often based on relatively little input. These statistical learning (SL) skills appear to underlie many kinds of learning, but despite their ubiquity, we still do not fully understand precisely what SL is and what individual differences on SL tasks reflect. Here we present experimental work suggesting that at least some individual differences arise from variation in perceptual fluency — the ability to rapidly or efficiently code and remember the stimuli that statistical learning occurs over – and that perceptual fluency is driven at least in part by stimulus familiarity: performance on a standard SL task varies substantially within the same (visual) modality as a function of whether the stimuli involved are familiar or not, independent of stimulus complexity. Moreover, we find that test-retest correlations of performance in a statistical learning task using stimuli of the same level of familiarity (but distinct items) are stronger than correlations across the same task with stimuli of different levels of familiarity. Finally, we demonstrate that statistical learning performance is predicted by an independent measure of stimulus-specific perceptual fluency that contains no statistical learning component at all. Our results suggest that a key component of statistical learning performance may be related to stimulus-specific perceptual processing and familiarity.



2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Santolin ◽  
Orsola Rosa-Salva ◽  
Bastien S. Lemaire ◽  
Lucia Regolin ◽  
Giorgio Vallortigara

Abstract Statistical learning is a key mechanism for detecting regularities from a variety of sensory inputs. Precocial newborn domestic chicks provide an excellent model for (1) exploring unsupervised forms of statistical learning in a comparative perspective, and (2) elucidating the ecological function of statistical learning using imprinting procedures. Here we investigated the role of the sex of the chicks in modulating the direction of preference (for familiarity or novelty) in a visual statistical learning task already employed with chicks and human infants. Using both automated tracking and direct human coding, we confirmed chicks’ capacity to recognize the presence of a statistically defined structure underlying a continuous stream of shapes. Using a different chicken strain than previous studies, we were also able to highlight sex differences in chicks’ propensity to approach the familiar or novel sequence. This could also explain a previous failure to reveal statistical learning in chicks which sex was however not determined. Our study confirms chicks’ ability to track visual statistics. The pivotal role of sex in determining familiarity or novelty preferences in this species and the interaction with the animals’ strain highlight the importance to contextualize comparative research within the ecology of each species.



2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 774-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Schaffhuser ◽  
Mathias Allemand ◽  
Beate Schwarz

The present study investigated the development of global and domain-specific self-representations in the transition from late childhood to early adolescence and tested whether gender, puberty, and school transition help explain individual differences in change. The study was based on three measurement occasions over 2 years and included 248 adolescents (average age at T1 = 10.6 years). Findings indicated both stability and change over time. Individual differences in change were partially explained by gender and school transition. It revealed that girls experienced steeper decreasing trajectories and were more negatively affected by school transition in comparison with boys. Time-varying associations between puberty and self-representations were evident in terms of perceived pubertal timing. Findings suggest that both biological (pubertal timing) and contextual factors (school transition) play a role in explaining individual differences of self-representation level as well as their development in girls’ and boys’ transition to early adolescence.



2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Ludolph ◽  
Thomas M. Ernst ◽  
Oliver M. Mueller ◽  
Sophia L. Goericke ◽  
Martin A. Giese ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe role of the cerebellum in error-based motor adaptation is well examined. In contrast, the involvement of the cerebellum in reward-based motor learning is less clear. In this study, we examined cerebellar involvement in a reward-based motor learning task, namely learning to control a virtual cart-pole system, over five consecutive days. Subjects with focal cerebellar lesions were compared to age-matched controls in terms of learning performance and underlying control mechanisms.Based on the overall balancing performance we have identified two subgroups of patients: (1) patients with learning performance comparable to healthy controls and (2) patients with decelerated learning, unsaturated learning progress after five days and decreased inter-manual transfer. Furthermore, we found that online learning is impaired while offline learning is partly preserved in cerebellar subjects. Regarding control mechanisms, decreased control performance was associated with impairments in predictive action timing.Voxel-wise lesion symptom mapping based on the two subgroups revealed strong associations between impairments in controlling the virtual cart-pole system and lesions in intermediate and lateral parts of lobules V and VI. These results together with previous reports suggest that the ability to predict the dynamics of the cart-pole system is an important factor for the reward-based skill acquisition process.



2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie M. Schneider ◽  
Yi-Lun Weng ◽  
Anqi Hu ◽  
Zhenghan Qi

Statistical learning, the process of tracking distributional information and discovering embedded patterns, is traditionally regarded as a form of implicit learning. However, recent studies proposed that both implicit (attention-independent) and explicit (attention-dependent) learning systems are involved in statistical learning. To understand the role of attention in statistical learning, the current study investigates the cortical processing of prediction errors in speech based on either local or global distributional information. We then ask how these cortical responses relate to statistical learning behavior in a word segmentation task. We found ERP evidence of pre-attentive processing of both the local (mismatching negativity) and global distributional information (late discriminative negativity). However, as speech elements became less frequent and more surprising, some participants showed an involuntary attentional shift, reflected in a P3a response. Individuals who displayed attentive neural tracking of distributional information showed faster learning in a speech statistical learning task. These results provide important neural evidence elucidating the facilitatory role of attention in statistical learning.



2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 558-567
Author(s):  
Dongsun Yim ◽  
Yoonhee Yang

Objectives: If statistical learning ability is critical for language acquisition and language development, it is necessary to confirm whether enhancing statistical learning ability can improve the children’s language skills. The present study investigated whether children with and without vocabulary delay (VD) show a difference in improving statistical learning (SL) tasks manipulated with implicit, implicit*2 and explicit conditions, and with visual and auditory domains; and also explores the relationship among SL, vocabulary, and quick incidental learning (QUIL).Methods: A total of 132 children between 3 to 8 years participated in this study, including vocabulary delayed children (N= 34) and typically developing children (N = 98). Participants completed SL tasks which were composed of three exposure conditions, and Quick incidental learning (QUIL) tasks to tap the novel word learning ability.Results: The VD group score was significantly lower than the TD group in the explicit condition of the auditory statistical learning task, and there was a significant correlation between QUIL and SL_auditory (implicit*2) only in the TD group.Conclusion: These results may explain that the TD group was ready to accept the explicit cues for learning as a domain-specific (auditory) benefit, and their auditory SL ability can be closely linked to vocabulary abilities. The current study suggests one possibility; that the VD group can increase the statistical learning ability through double auditory exposures. The novel quick incidental learning in the TD group was supported by the statistical learning, but this was not seen in the VD group.



2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Michel

This study examines the role of individual differences in cognitive skills in children’s learning through educational films. A total of 40 children, half of them aged 6, the other half 8, were shown a film about sugar production. After one week, the children took part in a memory test on the film’s content with free recall, cued recall, and recognition. In a second session, four working memory and attention tasks were administered. Results reveal that individual differences in domain-specific working memory skills account for substantial variance in the learning outcome, whereas children’s age was no significant predictor. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive processes underlying learning through films.



2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Orpella ◽  
P Ripollés ◽  
M Ruzzoli ◽  
JL Amengual ◽  
A Callejas ◽  
...  

AbstractA crucial aspect when learning a language is discovering the rules that govern how words are combined in order to convey meanings. Since rules are characterized by sequential co-occurrences between elements (e.g. ‘These cupcakes are unbelievable’), tracking the statistical relationships between these elements is fundamental. However, statistical learning alone cannot fully account for the ability to create abstract rule representations that can be generalized, a paramount requirement of linguistic rules. Here, we provide evidence that, after the statistical relations between words have been extracted, the engagement of goal-directed attention is key to enable rule generalization. Incidental learning performance during a rule-learning task on an artificial language revealed a progressive shift from statistical learning to goal-directed attention. In addition, and consistent with the recruitment of attention, fMRI analyses of late learning stages showed left parietal activity within a broad bilateral dorsal fronto-parietal network. Critically, rTMS on participants’ peak of activation within the left parietal cortex impaired their ability to generalize learned rules to a structurally analogous new language. No stimulation or rTMS on a non-relevant brain region did not have the same interfering effect on generalization. Performance on an additional attentional task showed that rTMS on the same parietal site hindered participants’ ability to integrate what (stimulus identity) and when (stimulus timing) information about an expected target. The present findings suggest that learning rules from speech is a two-stage process: following statistical learning, goal-directed attention –involving left parietal regions– integrates what and when stimulus information to facilitate rapid rule generalization.



2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Géza Gergely Ambrus ◽  
Teodóra Vékony ◽  
Karolina Janacsek ◽  
Anna B. C. Trimborn ◽  
Gyula Kovács ◽  
...  

AbstractBrain networks related to human learning can interact in cooperative but also competitive ways to optimize performance. The investigation of such interactive processes is rare in research on learning and memory. Previous studies have shown that manipulations reducing the engagement of prefrontal cortical areas could lead to improved statistical learning performance. However, no study has investigated how disruption of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) affects the acquisition and consolidation of non-adjacent second-order dependencies. The present study aimed to test the role of the DLPFC, more specifically, the Brodmann 9 area in implicit temporal statistical learning of non-adjacent dependencies. We applied 1 Hz inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation or sham stimulation over both the left and right DLPFC intermittently during the learning. The DLPFC-stimulated group showed better performance compared to the sham group after a 24-hour consolidation period. This finding suggests that the disruption of DLPFC during learning induces qualitative changes in the consolidation of non-adjacent statistical regularities. A possible mechanism behind this result is that the stimulation of the DLPFC promotes a shift to model-free learning by weakening the access to model-based processes.



2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazan Okur

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the adoption groups of the fast-fashion consumers, evaluate the consumers’ perceptions of the fast-fashion in different groups, and model the role of “social or status image”, “uniqueness”, and “conformity” on the level of fast-fashion consumer adoption. The consumer adoption groups were determined as “innovators”, “early adopters”, “early majority”, “late majority”, and “laggards” by using a domain-specific innovativeness (DSI) scale. Consumers’ perceptions of fast-fashion were evaluated from cognitive and emotional aspects and the differences across the consumer groups were investigated by using Kruskal-–Wallis test and Mann-–Whitney U test. The roles of “social or status image”, “uniqueness”, and “conformity” on consumer groups were modeled by using ordinal logistic regression analysis. As a result of the research, consumers’ perceptions of fast-fashion were found to vary across different consumer adoption groups in terms of “being in-style products”, “expressing self-image”, “imitating the luxury fashion products”, and “frequent renewal of the collections”. Further, the findings revealed that the probabilistic relationship between different levels of consumer adoption based on innovativeness could be modeled based on the motivations of “social or status image” and “uniqueness”.



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