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Subjective measures of unconscious knowledge of concepts

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Abstract

This paper considers different subjective measures of conscious and unconscious knowledge in a concept formation paradigm. In particular, free verbal reports are compared with two subjective measures, the zero-correlation and the guessing criteria, based on trial-by-trial confidence ratings (a type of on-line verbal report). Despite the fact that free verbal reports are frequently dismissed as being insensitive measures of conscious knowledge, a considerable bulk of research on implicit learning has traditionally relied on this measure of consciousness, because it is widely regarded as almost self-evident that the content of any conscious state that is intentional and conceptual can be expressed verbally. However, we found that the most recently developed subjective measures based on trial-by-trial confidence ratings provided a more sensitive measure of conscious and unconscious knowledge than free verbal reports. In a complementary way, the qualitative pattern of the free report and the confidence measures were similar, providing further evidence for the validity of the latter.

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Acknowledgments

This work was completed in partial fulfillment for the requirements of a D.Phil thesis at the University of Sussex, and was funded by a Scholarship from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY). An initial version of this paper was presented at the ESPP (European Society for Philosophy and Psychology) Congress 2003 held in Torino from the 9th to the 12th of July. The local organization of the event was co-ordinated by the Rosselli Foundation.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Education & Psychology, School of Philosophy, University of Ioannina, Dourouti, 451 10, Ioannina, Greece

    Eleni Ziori

  2. Department of Psychology, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, BN1 9QH, Brighton, UK

    Zoltán Dienes

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  1. Eleni Ziori
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  2. Zoltán Dienes
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Correspondence to Eleni Ziori.

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Ziori, E., Dienes, Z. Subjective measures of unconscious knowledge of concepts. Mind & Society 5, 105–122 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-006-0012-4

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