Abstract
We investigated transfer of artificial grammar learning in adults with and without dyslexia in 3 experiments. In Experiment 1, participants implicitly learned an artificial grammar system and were tested on new items that included the same symbols. In Experiment 2, participants were given practice with letter strings and then tested on strings created with a different letter set. In Experiment 3, participants were given practice with shapes and then tested on strings created with different shapes. Results show that in Experiment 1, both groups demonstrated utilization of pre-trained instances in the subsequent grammaticality judgement task, while in Experiments 2 (orthographic) and 3 (nonorthographic), only typically developed participants demonstrated application of knowledge from training to test. A post hoc analysis comparing between the experiments suggests that being trained and tested on an orthographic task leads to better performance than a nonorthographic task among typically developed adults but not among adults with dyslexia. Taken together, it appears that following extensive training, individuals with dyslexia are able to form stable representations from sequential stimuli and use them in a subsequent task that utilizes strings of similar symbols. However, the manipulation of the symbols challenges this ability.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code availability
Not applicable.
References
Agafonov A, Kryukova A, Shilov Y (2018) Transfer in implicit learning. KnE Life Sci 4(8):20–29
Altmann G, Dienes Z, Goode A (1995) Modality independence of implicitly learned grammatical knowledge. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 21(4):899–912
Arciuli J (2018) Reading as statistical learning. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch 49(3S):634–643
Arciuli J, Simpson IC (2012) Statistical learning is lasting and consistent over time. Neurosci Lett 517(2):133–135
Berry D, Dienes ZP (1993) Implicit learning: theoretical and empirical issues. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New York
Bogaerts L, Frost R, Christiansen MH (2020) Integrating statistical learning into cognitive science. J Mem Lang 115:104167
Bollt EM, Jones MA (2000) The complexity of artificial grammars. Nonlinear Dyn Psychol Life Sci 4(2):153–168. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009524428448
Brooks LR, Vokey JR (1991) Abstract analogies and abstracted grammars: comments of Reber (1989) and Matthews et al. (1989). J Exp Psychol Gen 120(3):316–323. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.120.3.316
Chetail F (2017) What do we do with what we learn? Statistical learning of orthographic regularities impacts written word processing. Cognition 163:103–120
Chi MT, VanLehn KA (2012) Seeing deep structure from the interactions of surface features. Educ Psychol 47(3):177–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.695709
Christiansen MH (2019) Implicit statistical learning: a tale of two literatures. Top Cogn Sci 11(3):468–481
Conway CM, Christiansen MH (2005) Modality-constrained statistical learning of tactile, visual, and auditory sequences. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 31(1):24
Conway CM, Christiansen MH (2006) Statistical learning within and between modalities: pitting abstract against stimulus-specific representations. Psychol Sci 17(10):905–912. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01801.x
Dobó D, Lukics KS, Szőllősi Á, Németh K, Lukács Á (2021) Statistical learning and the effect of starting small in developmental dyslexia. J Speech Lang Hear Res 64(5):1621–1635
Durrant SJ, Cairney SA, Lewis PA (2016) Cross-modal transfer of statistical information benefits from sleep. Cortex 78:85–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.02.011
Facoetti A, Paganoni P, Turatto M, Marzola V, Mascetti GG (2000) Visual-spatial attention in developmental dyslexia. Cortex 36(1):109–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70840-2
Fiser J, Aslin RN (2002) Statistical learning of higher-order temporal structure from visual shape sequences. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 28(3):458–467. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.28.3.458
Fostick L, Revah H (2018) Dyslexia as a multi-deficit disorder: working memory and auditory temporal processing. Acta Physiol (oxf) 183:19–28
Frost R, Armstrong BC, Siegelman N, Christiansen MH (2015) Domain generality versus modality specificity: the paradox of statistical learning. Trends Cogn Sci 19(3):117–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2014.12.010
Gomez RL (1997) Transfer and complexity in artificial grammar learning. Cogn Psychol 33(2):154–207
Gomez RL, Gerken L, Schvaneveldt RW (2000) The basis of transfer in artificial grammar learning. Mem Cognit 28(2):253–263. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213804
Goswami U (2002) Phonology, reading development and dyslexia: a cross-linguistic perspective. Ann Dyslexia 52:141–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-002-0010-0
Griffiths YM, Snowling MJ (2002) Predictors of exception word and nonword reading in dyslexic children: the severity hypothesis. J Educ Psychol 94(1):34–43. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.1.34
Hsu HJ, Bishop DV (2011) Grammatical difficulties in children with specific language impairment: is learning deficient? Hum Dev 53(5):264–277. https://doi.org/10.1159/000321289
Hung YH, Frost SJ, Pugh KR (2018) Domain generality and specificity of statistical learning and its relation with reading ability. In: Reading and dyslexia. Springer, Cham, pp 33–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90805-2_2
Jiang S, Zhu L, Guo X, Ma W, Yang Z, Dienes Z (2012) Unconscious structural knowledge of tonal symmetry: Tang poetry redefines limits of implicit learning. Conscious Cogn 21(1):476–486
Jiménez L, Oliveira HM, Soares AP (2020) Surface features can deeply affect artificial grammar learning. Conscious Cogn 80:102919
Jung Y, Walther DB, Finn AS (2020) Children automatically abstract categorical regularities during statistical learning. Dev Sci 24:e13072
Kahta S, Schiff R (2016) Implicit learning deficits among adults with developmental dyslexia. Ann Dyslexia 66(2):235–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-016-0121-7
Kahta S, Schiff R (2019) Deficits in statistical leaning of auditory sequences among adults with dyslexia. Dyslexia 25(2):142–157
Karuza EA, Farmer TA, Fine AB, Smith FX, Jaeger TF (2014, January). On-line measures of prediction in a self-paced statistical learning task. In: Proceedings of the annual meeting of the cognitive science society, vol 36, no 36
Kinder A, Lotz A (2009) Connectionist models of artificial grammar learning: what type of knowledge is acquired? Psychol Res 73(5):659–673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-008-0177-z
Kirkham NZ, Slemmer JA, Richardson DC, Johnson SP (2007) Location, location, location: development of spatiotemporal sequence learning in infancy. Child Dev 78(5):1559–1571. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01083.x
Knowlton BJ, Squire LR (1996) Artificial grammar learning depends on implicit acquisition of both abstract and exemplar-specific information. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 22(1):169–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.22.1.169
Laasonen M, Väre J, Oksanen-Hennah H, Leppämäki S, Tani P, Harno H, Cleeremans A (2014) Project DyAdd: Implicit learning in adult dyslexia and ADHD. Ann Dyslexia 64(1):1–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-013-0083-y
Lakens D, McLatchie N, Isager PM, Scheel AM, Dienes Z (2020) Improving inferences about null effects with Bayes factors and equivalence tests. J Gerontol B Psychol 75(1):45–57. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gby065
Larsen-Freeman D (2013) Transfer of learning transformed. Lang Learn 63(1):107–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00740.x
Lee MD, Wagenmakers EJ (2014) Bayesian cognitive modeling: a practical course. Cambridge University Press
Ling X, Li F, Qiao F, Guo X, Dienes Z (2016) Fluency expresses implicit knowledge of tonal symmetry. Front Psychol 7:57
Lotz A, Kinder A (2006) Transfer in artificial grammar learning: the role of repetition information. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 32(4):707–715. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.32.4.707
Lum JA, Ullman MT, Conti-Ramsden G (2013) Procedural learning is impaired in dyslexia: evidence from a meta-analysis of serial reaction time studies. Res Dev Disabil 34(10):3460–3476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2013.07.017
Mathews RC, Buss RR, Stanley WB, Blanchard-Fields F, Cho JR, Druhan B (1989) Role of implicit and explicit processes in learning from examples: a synergistic effect. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 15(6):1083–1110. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.15.6.1083
Newport EL (1990) Maturational constraints on language learning. Cogn Sci 14(1):11–28
Pavlidou EV, Kelly LM, Williams JM (2010) Do children with developmental dyslexia have impairments in implicit learning? Dyslexia 16(2):143–161. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.400
Pelucchi B, Hay JF, Saffran JR (2009) Learning in reverse: eight-month-old infants track backward transitional probabilities. Cognition 113(2):244–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.07.011
Perruchet P, Pacton S (2006) Implicit learning and statistical learning: one phenomenon, two approaches. Trends Cogn Sci 10(5):233–238
Pothos EM (2007) Theories of artificial grammar learning. Psychol Bull 133(2):227
Pothos EM, Kirk J (2004) Investigating learning deficits associated with dyslexia. Dyslexia 10(1):61–76. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.266
Qi Z, Sanchez Araujo Y, Georgan WC, Gabrieli JD, Arciuli J (2019) Hearing matters more than seeing: a cross-modality study of statistical learning and reading ability. Sci Stud Read 23(1):101–115
Ramus F, Ahissar M (2012) Developmental dyslexia: the difficulties of interpreting poor performance, and the importance of normal performance. Cogn Neuropsychol 29(1–2):104–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2012.677420
Reber AS (1967) Implicit learning of artificial grammars. J Verbal Learn Verbal Behav 6(6):855–863. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(67)80149-X
Rebuschat P, Monaghan P, Gomez R, Dell GS, Anderson N, Conway C (2016) Aligning implicit learning and statistical learning: two approaches, one phenomenon. In: CogSci
Redington M, Chater N (1996) Transfer in artificial grammar learning: a reevaluation. J Exp Psychol Gen 125(2):123–138. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.125.2.123
Reis A, Araújo S, Morais IS, Faísca L (2020) Reading and reading-related skills in adults with dyslexia from different orthographic systems: a review and meta-analysis. Ann Dyslexia 70(3):339–368
Rüsseler J, Gerth I, Monte TF (2006) Implicit learning is intact in adult developmental dyslexic readers: evidence from the serial reaction time task and artificial grammar learning. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 28(5):808–827. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803390591001007
Saffran JR, Aslin RN, Newport EL (1996) Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science 274(5294):1926–1928. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5294.1926
Samara A, Caravolas M (2017) Artificial grammar learning in dyslexic and nondyslexic adults: implications for orthographic learning. Sci Stud Read 21(1):76–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2016.1262865
Sand A, Nilsson ME (2016) Subliminal or not? Comparing null-hypothesis and Bayesian methods for testing subliminal priming. Conscious Cogn 44:29–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2016.06.012
Sawi OM, Rueckl J (2019) Reading and the neurocognitive bases of statistical learning. Sci Stud Read 23(1):8–23
Schiff R, Kahta S (2008) Single-word reading test: vowelized and unvowelized word reading. Haddad Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan (Hebrew)
Schiff R, Katan P (2014) Does complexity matter? Meta-analysis of learner performance in artificial grammar tasks. Front Psychol 5:1084. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01084
Schiff R, Sasson A, Star G, Kahta S (2017) The role of feedback in implicit and explicit artificial grammar learning: a comparison between dyslexic and non-dyslexic adults. Ann Dyslexia 67(3):333–355. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-017-0147-5
Schiff R, Ashkenazi P, Kahta S, Sasson A (2021) Stimulus variation-based training enhances artificial grammar learning. Acta Physiol (oxf) 214:103252
Schmalz X, Altoè G, Mulatti C (2017) Statistical learning and dyslexia: a systematic review. Ann Dyslexia 67(2):147–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-016-0136-0
Schwartz DL, Chase CC, Bransford JD (2012) Resisting overzealous transfer: coordinating previously successful routines with needs for new learning. Educ Psychol 47(3):204–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.696317
Shaywitz BA, Shaywitz SE (2017) Dyslexia. In: Schwartz RG (ed) Handbook of child language disorders. Psychology Press, New York, NY, pp 148–166. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315283531-5
Siegelman N, Bogaerts L, Elazar A, Arciuli J, Frost R (2018a) Linguistic entrenchment: prior knowledge impacts statistical learning performance. Cognition 177:198–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.04.011
Siegelman N, Bogaerts L, Kronenfeld O, Frost R (2018b) Redefining “learning” in statistical learning: what does an online measure reveal about the assimilation of visual regularities? Cogn Sci 42(S3):692–727. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12556
Singh S, Walk AM, Conway CM (2018) Atypical predictive processing during visual statistical learning in children with developmental dyslexia: an event-related potential study. Ann Dyslexia 68:165–179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-018-0161-2
Singley MK, Anderson JR (1989) The transfer of cognitive skill (No. 9). Harvard University Press, Harvard University Press
Stein J (2001) The magnocellular theory of developmental dyslexia. Dyslexia 7(1):12–36. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.186
Swanson HL, Hsieh C-J (2009) Reading disabilities in adults: a selective meta-analysis of the literature. Rev Educ Res 79(4):1362–1390. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654309350931
Swanson HL, Jerman O (2007) The influence of working memory on reading growth in subgroups of children with reading disabilities. J Exp Child Psychol 96(4):249–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2006.12.004
Tamboer P, Vorst HCM, Oort FJ (2016) Five describing factors of dyslexia. J Learn Disabil 49:451–465. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219414558123
Thiessen ED (2010) Effects of visual information on adults’ and infants’ auditory statistical learning. Cogn Sci 34(6):1093–1106. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01118.x
Thiessen ED (2017) What’s statistical about learning? Insights from modelling statistical learning as a set of memory processes. Philos Trans R Soc B 372(1711):20160056. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0056
Trotter AS, Monaghan P, Beckers GJ, Christiansen MH (2020) Exploring variation between artificial grammar learning experiments: outlining a meta-analysis approach. Top Cogn Sci 12(3):875–893
Tunney RJ, Altmann G (1999) The transfer effect in artificial grammar learning: reappraising the evidence on the transfer of sequential dependencies. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 25(5):1322
van Witteloostuijn M, Boersma P, Wijnen F, Rispens J (2017) Visual artificial grammar learning in dyslexia: a meta-analysis. Res Dev Disabil 70:126–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2017.09.006
Vokey JR, Brooks LR (1992) Salience of item knowledge in learning artificial grammars. J Exp Psychol Learn 18(2):328–344. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.18.2.328
Wagenmakers EJ, Verhagen J, Ly A, Matzke D, Steingroever H, Rouder JN, Morey RD (2017) The need for Bayesian hypothesis testing in psychological science. In: Psychological science under scrutiny: recent challenges and proposed solutions. Wiley, pp 123–138. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119095910.ch8
Whittlesea BW, Dorken MD (1993) Incidentally, things in general are particularly determined: an episodic-processing account of implicit learning. J Exp Psychol Gen 122(2):227–248. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.122.2.227
Wolf M, Bally H, Morris R (1986) Automaticity, retrieval processes, and reading: a longitudinal study in average and impaired readers. Child Dev 57(4):988–1000. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130373
Ziegler JC, Pech-Georgel C, Dufau S, Grainger J (2010) Rapid processing of letters, digits and symbols: what purely visual-attentional deficit in developmental dyslexia? Dev Sci 13(4):F8–F14. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00983.x
Funding
Not applicable.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Not applicable.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Editors: Pia Knoeferle (Humboldt University Berlin)/Anouschka Foltz (University of Graz); Reviewers: James Smith-Spark (London South Bank University), F. Sayako Earle (University of Delaware).
Appendices
Appendix 1
Experiment 1—Nontransfer (Lotz and Kinder 2006)
Training | Test—Grammatical | Test—Nongrammatical |
|---|---|---|
1. MXRVXT | MXRMXT | MXRRXT |
2. VMTRRRR | VMTRRRX | VMTRRRT |
3. MXTRRR | VXTRRR | TXTRRR |
4. VXVRMXT | VXVRVXT | VXVRTXT |
5. VXVRVM | VXVRVV | VXVRVT |
6. VMRVVVV | VMRVVVM | VMRVVVR |
7. MXRTMVR | MXRTMXR | MXRTMTR |
8. VMRMXTR | VMRVXTR | VMRTXTR |
9. MXR | MVR | MTR |
10. VMRVXVR | VMRVXVT | VMRVXVX |
11. MVRVM | MXRVM | MTRVM |
12. VMRMVRV | VMRMXRV | VMRMTRV |
13. VMRMVXR | VMRMVXT | VMRMVXX |
14. MXRTVXT | MXRTMXT | MXRTRXT |
15. MXRMVXR | MXRMVXT | MXRMVXX |
16. MVXTR | MVXTX | MVXTT |
Experiment 2: Orthographic transfer
Training | Test—Grammatical | Test—Nongrammatical |
|---|---|---|
1. MXRVXT | FDZFDS | FDZZDS |
2. VMTRRRR | LFSZZZD | LFSZZZS |
3. MXTRRR | LDSZZZ | SDSZZZ |
4. VXVRMXT | LDLZLDS | LDLZSDS |
5. VXVRVM | LDLZLL | LDLZLS |
6. VMRVVVV | LFZLLLF | LFZLLLZ |
7. MXRTMVR | FDZSFDZ | FDZSFSZ |
8. VMRMXTR | LFZLDSZ | LFZSDSZ |
9. MXR | FLZ | FSZ |
10. VMRVXVR | LFZLDLS | LFZLDLD |
11. MVRVM | FDZLF | FSZLF |
12. VMRMVRV | LFZFDZL | LFZFSZL |
13. VMRMVXR | LFZFLDS | LFZFLDD |
14. MXRTVXT | FDZSFDS | FDZSZDS |
15. MXRMVXR | FDZFLDS | FDZFLDD |
16. MVXTR | FLDSD | FLDSS |
Experiment 3: Nonorthographic transfer—training
Experiment 3: Nonorthographic transfer—test
Appendix 2
Mapping of training to test items in Experiments 2
Training letter | Test letter |
|---|---|
M | F |
R | Z |
T | S |
V | L |
X | D |
Mapping of training to test items in experiment 3
Shapes used in the training phase |
|
Shapes used in the test phase |
|
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Schiff, R., Cohen, H., Kahta, S. et al. Can adults with developmental dyslexia apply statistical knowledge to a new context?. Cogn Process 24, 129–145 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-022-01106-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-022-01106-0