Abstract
Hayes and Broadbent (1988), among others, have proposed that there are two independent systems of learning in humans. In their theory, they postulate that theexplicit learning system gives rise to knowledge that is verbally describable, whereas theimplicit learning system deals with knowledge that is not amenable to verbal report. Hayes and Broadbent presented data that they claimed supports a distinction between these two systems of learning. Their experiments involved the performance of subjects on two superficially similar tasks, and their claim was that one of the tasks induced learning in the explicit system, and the other induced learning in the implicit system. However, in five experiments here, we failed to find any convincing support for their empirical or theoretical claims. Our results suggest that the two tasks do not differ by inducing different types of learning, but simply differ in their degree of difficulty.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anderson, J. R. (1983).The architecture of cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Baker, A. G., Mercier, P., Vallee-Tourangeau, F., Frank, R., & Pan, M. (in press). Selective associations and causality judgments: The presence of a strong causal factor may reduce judgments of a weaker one.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition.
Berry, D. C., &Broadrent, D. E. (1984). On the relationship between task performance and associated verbalizable knowledge.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,36A, 209–231.
Berry, D. C., &Broadrent, D. E. (1988). Interactive tasks and the implicit-explicit distinction.British Journal of Psychology,79, 251–272.
Blaxton, T. A. (1989). Investigating dissociations among memory measures: Support for the transfer-appropriate processing framework.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 657–668.
Broadbent, D. E. (1984). The Maltese cross: A new simplistic model for memory.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,7, 55–94.
Broadbent, D. E., Fitzgerald, P., &Broadbent, M. H. P. (1986). Implicit and explicit knowledge in the control of complex systems.British Journal of Psychology,77, 33–50.
Brooks, D. N., &Baddeley, A. D. (1976). What can amnesic patients learn?Neuropsychologia,14, 111–122.
Cohen, N. J., &Squie, L. R. (1980). Preserved learning and retention of pattern-analyzing skill in amnesia: Dissociation of knowing how and knowing that.Science,21, 207–210.
Coltheart, M. (1988). Implicit memory and the functional architecture of cognition. In S. Lewandowsky, J. C. Dunn, & K. Kirsner (Eds.),Implicit memory: Theoretical issues (pp. 285–297). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Corkin, S. (1968). Acquisition of motor skill after bilateral medial temporal-lobe excision.Neuropsychologia,6, 255–265.
Graf, P., &Schacter, D. L. (1985). Implicit and explicit memory for new associations in normal and amnesic subjects.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,11, 501–518.
Hayes, N. A., &Broadbent, D. E. (1988). Two modes of learning for interactive tasks.Cognition,28, 249–276.
Heindel, W. C., Butters, N., &Salmon, D. P. (1988). Impaired learning of a motor skill in patients with Huntington’s disease.Behavioral Neuroscience,102, 141–147.
Heindel, W. C., Salmon, D. P., Shults, C. W., Walicke, P. A., &Butters, N. (1989). Neuropsychological evidence for multiple implicit memory systems: A comparison of Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s disease patients.Journal of Neuroscience,9, 582–587.
Irwin, F. W. (1971).Intentional behavior and motivation: A cognitive theory. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Jacoby, L. L. (1983). Remembering the data: Analyzing interactive processes in memory.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,22, 485–508.
Jacoby, L. L. (1984). Incidental versus intentional retrieval: Remembering and awareness as separate issues. In L. R. Squire & N. Butters (Eds.),Neuropsvchology of memory (pp. 145–156). New York: Guilford.
Jacoby, L. L. (1991). A process dissociation framework: Separating automatic from intentional uses of memoryJournal of Memory & Language,30, 513–541.
Jacoby, L. L., &Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,110, 306–340.
Jacoby, L. L., &Witherspoon, D. (1982). Remembering without awareness.Canadian Journal of Psychology,36, 300–324.
Kinsbourne, M., &Wood, F. (1982). Theoretical considerations regarding the episodic-semantic memory distinction. In L. S. Cermak (Ed.),Human memory and amnesia (pp. 194–217). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lewicki, P., Czyzewska, M., &Hoffman, H. (1987). Unconscious acquisition of complex procedural knowledge.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 523–530.
Martone, M., Butters, N., Payne, M., Becker, J. T., &Sax, D. S. (1984). Dissociations between skill learning and verbal recognition in amnesia and dementia.Archives of Neurology, Chicago,41, 965–970.
Mishkin, M., Malamut, B., &Bachevalier, J. (1984). Memories and habits: Two neural systems. In J. L. McGaugh, G. Lynch, & H. M. Weinberger (Eds.),Neurobiology of learning and memory (pp. 65–77). New York: Guilford.
Nissen, M. J., &Bullemer, P. (1987). Attentional requirements of learning: Evidence from performance measures.Cognitive Psychology,19, 1–32.
Perruchet, P., &Baveux, P. (1989). Correlational analyses of explicit and implicit memory performance.Memory & Cognition,17, 77–86.
Perruchet, P., Gallego, J., &Savy, I. (1990). Acritical reappraisal of the evidence for unconscious abstraction of deterministic rules in complex experimental situations.Cognitive Psychology,22, 493–516.
Perruchet, P., &Pacteau, C. (1990). Synthetic grammar learning: Implicit rule abstraction or explicit fragmentary knowledge?Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,119, 264–275.
Reber, A. S. (1967). Implicit learning of artificial grammars.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,77, 317–327.
Reber, A. S. (I989a). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,118, 219–235.
Reber, A. S. (1989b). More thoughts on the unconscious: Reply to Brody and to Lewicki and Hill.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,118, 242–244.
Reber, A. S., Walkenfeld, F. F., &Hernstadt, R. (1991). Implicit and explicit learning: Individual differences and IQ.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,17, 888–896.
Richardson-Klavehn, A., &Bjork, R. A. (1988). Measures of memory.Annual Review of Psychology,39, 475–543.
Roediger, H. L., III, &Blaxton, T. A. (1987). Retrieval modes produce dissociations in memory for surface information. In D. S. Gorfein & R. R. Hoffman (Eds.),Memory and cognitive processes: The Ebbinghaus Centennial Conference (pp. 349–379). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ryle, G. (1949).The concept of mind. London: Hutchinson.
Saint-Cyr, J. A., Taylor, E., &Lang, A. E. (1988). Procedural learning and neostriatal dysfunction in man.Brain,111, 941–959.
Sanderson, P. M. (1989). Verbalizable knowledge and skilled task performance: Association, dissociation, and mental models.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 729–747.
Sanderson, P. M. (1990).Implicit and explicit control of a dynamic task: Empirical and conceptual issues. (Tech. Rep. No. EPRL-90-02). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Engineering Psychology Research Laboratory -
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 501–518.
Schacter, D., Cooper, L. A., &Delaney, S. M. (l990a). Implicit memory for unfamiliar objects depends on access to the structural description system.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,119, 5–24.
Schacter, D., Cooper, L. A., &Delaney, S. M. (1990b). Implicit memory for visual objects and the structural description system.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,28, 367–372.
Shanks, D. R. (in press). Human instrumental learning: A critical review of data and theory.British Journal of Psychology.
Shanks, D. R., &Dickinson, A. (1991). Instrumental judgment and performance under variations in action-outcome contingency and contiguity.Memory & Cognition,19, 353–360.
Shanks, D. R., Green, R. E. A., & Kolodny, J. (in press). A critical examination ofthe evidence for unconscious (implicit) learning. In C. Umiltà & M. Moscovitch (Eds.),Attention and performance XV: Conscious and nonconscious information processing.
Shimamura, A. P., Salmon, D. P., Squire, L. R., &Butters, N. (1987). Memory dysfunction and word priming in dementia and amnesia.Behavioral Neuroscience,101, 347–351.
Stadler, M. A. (1989). On learning complex procedural knowledge.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 1061–1069.
Tolman, E. C. (1932).Purposive behavior in animals and men. New York: Irvington.
Tulving, E. (1986). Episodic and semantic memory: Where should we go from here?Behavioral & Brain Sciences,9, 573–577.
Tulving, E., &Schacter, D. L. (1990). Priming and human memory systems.Science,247, 301–396.
Wasserman, E. A., Elek, S. M., Chatlosh, D. L., &Baker, A. G. (1993). Rating causal relations: The role of probability in judgments of response-outcome contingency.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,19, 174–188.
Willingham, D. B., Nissen, M. J., &Bullemer, P. (1989). On the development of procedural knowledge.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 1047–1060.
Winograd, T. (1975). Frame representations and the declarativeprocedural controversy. In D. Bobrow & A. Collins (Eds.),Representation and understanding: Studies in cognitive science (pp. 185–210). New York: Academic Press.
Witherspoon, D., &Moscovitch, M. (1989). Stochastic independence between two implicit memory tasks.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 22–30.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Green, R.E.A., Shanks, D.R. On the existence of independent explicit and implicit learning systems: An examination of some evidence. Mem Cogn 21, 304–317 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208263
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208263