Abstract
People are often taught using a combination of instruction and practice. In prior research, we have distinguished between model-based knowledge (i.e., acquired from explicit instruction) and experience-based knowledge (i.e., acquired from practice), and have argued that the issue of how these types of knowledge (and associated learning processes) interact has been largely neglected. Two experiments explore this issue using a dynamic control task. Results demonstrate the utility of providing model-based knowledge before practice with the task, but more importantly, suggest how this information improves learning. Results also show that learning in this manner can lead to “costs” such as slowed retrieval, and that this knowledge may not always transfer to new task situations as well as experientially acquired knowledge. Our findings also question the assumption that participants always acquire a highly specific “lookup” table representation while learning this task. We provide an alternate view and discuss the implications for theories of learning.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anderson, J. R. (1982). Acquisition of cognitive skill. Psychological Review, 89, 369–406.
Anderson, J. R., & Lebiere, C. (1998). The atomic components of thought. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Berry, D. C., & Broadbent, D. E. (1984). On the relationship between task performance and associated verbalizable knowledge. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 36A, 209–231.
Berry, D. C., & Broadbent, D. E. (1988). Interactive tasks and implicit-explicit distinction. British Journal of Psychology, 79, 251–272.
Berry, D. C., & Dienes, Z. (1993). Implicit learning: Theoretical and empirical issues. Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
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, L. R. (1987). Decentralized control of categorization: The role of prior processing episodes. In U. Neisser (Ed.), Concepts and conceptual development: Ecological and intellectual factors in categorization (pp. 141–174). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dienes, Z., & Berry, D. (1997). Implicit learning: Below the subjective threshold. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 3–23.
Dienes, Z., & Fahey, R. (1995). Role of specific instances in controlling a dynamic system. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 21, 848–862.
Dienes, Z., & Fahey, R. (1998). The role of implicit memory in controlling a dynamic system. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 51A, 593–614.
Domangue, T. J., Mathews, R. C., Sun, R., Roussel, L. G., & Guidry, C. E. (2004). Effects of model-based and memory-based processing on speed and accuracy of grammar string generation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 30, 1002–1011.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, 363–406.
Estes, W. K. (1986). Array models for category learning. Cognitive Psychology, 18, 500–549.
Frensch, P. A., Haider, H., Runger, D., Neugebauer, U., Voigt, S., & Werg, J. (2003). The route from implicit learning to verbal expression of what has been learned: Verbal report of incidentally experienced environmental regularity. In L. Jimenez (Ed.), Attention and implicit learning (pp. 335–366). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Fum, D., & Stocco, A. (2003a). Instance vs. rule-based learning in controlling a dynamic system. In F. Detje, D. Dörner, & H. Schaub (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Cognitive Modeling (pp. 105–110). Bamberg, Germany: Universitäts-Verlag.
Fum, D., & Stocco, A. (2003b). Outcome evaluation and procedural knowledge in implicit learning. In R. Alterman & D. Kirsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 426–431). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hayes, N. A., & Broadbent, D. E. (1988). Two modes of learning for interactive tasks. Cognition, 28, 249–276.
Hintzman, D. L. (1986). “Schema abstraction” in a multiple-trace memory model. Psychological Review, 93, 411–428.
Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1982). Ninth Bartlett memorial lecture: Thinking as a skill. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 34A, 1–29.
Kieras, D. E., & Bovair, S. (1984). The role of a mental model in learning to operate a device. Cognitive Science, 8, 255–273.
Knowlton, B. J., & Squire, L. R. (1996). Artificial grammar learning depends on implicit acquisition of both abstract and exemplarspecific information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 22, 169–181.
Kolers, P. A., & Roediger, H. L., III (1984). Procedures of mind. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 23, 425–449.
Lewicki, P., Czyzewska, M., & Hoffman, H. (1987). Unconscious acquisition of complex procedural knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 13, 523–530.
Marescaux, P. J., Luc, F., & Karnas, G. (1989). Modes d’apprentissage sélectif et nonsélectif et connaissances acquises au contrôle d’un processus: Évaluation d’un modèle simulé. Cahiers de Psychologie Cognitive, 9, 239–264.
Mathews, R. C. (1991). The forgetting algorithm: How fragmentary knowledge of exemplars can abstract knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 120, 117–119.
Mathews, R. C. (1997). Is research painting a biased picture of implicit learning? The dangers of methodological purity in scientific debate. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 38–42.
Mathews, R. C., Buss, R. R., Stanley, W. B., Blanchard-Fields, F., Cho, J. R., & Druhan, B. (1989). Role of implicit and explicit processes in learning from examples: A synergistic effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 15, 1083–1100.
Mayer, R. E. (2004). Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning? The case for guided methods of instruction. American Psychologist, 59, 14–19.
McGeorge, P., & Burton, A. M. (1989). The effects of concurrent verbalization on performance in a dynamic systems task. British Journal of Psychology, 80, 455–465.
Medin, D. L., & Schaffer, M. M. (1978). Context theory of classification learning. Psychological Review, 85, 207–238.
Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1972). Human problem solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Persaud, N., McLeod, P., & Cowey, A. (2007). Post-decision wagering objectively measures awareness. Nature Neuroscience, 10, 257–261.
Reber, A. S. (1967). Implicit learning of artificial grammars. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 6, 855–863.
Reber, A. S. (1989). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 118, 219–235.
Reber, A. S. (1993). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: An essay on the cognitive unconscious. New York: Oxford University Press.
Roussel, L. G. (1999). Facilitating knowledge integration and flexibility: The effects of reflection and exposure to alternative models. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
Sallas, B., Mathews, R. C., Lane, S. M., & Sun, R. (in press). Developing rich and quickly accessed knowledge of an artificial grammar. Memory & Cognition.
Seger, C. (1994). Implicit learning. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 163–196.
Shanks, D. R., & St. John, M. F. (1994). Characteristics of dissociable human learning systems. Behavioural & Brain Sciences, 17, 367–448.
Stanley, W. B., Mathews, R. C., Buss, R. R., & Kotler-Cope, S. (1989). Insight without awareness: On the interaction of verbalization, instruction, and practice in a simulated process control task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 41A, 553–577.
Sun, R. (2002). Duality of the mind: A bottom up approach toward cognition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Sun, R., & Mathews, R. (2005). Exploring the interaction of implicit and explicit processes to facilitate individual skill learning. Technical Report TR-1162, Army Research Institute for the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Arlington, VA.
Willingham, D. B. (1997). Implicit and explicit memory do not differ in flexibility: Comment on Dienes & Berry, 1997. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 587–591.
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.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
This research was partially supported by the Army Research Institute Grant DASW01-00-K-0012 to R.S. and R.C.M.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lane, S.M., Mathews, R.C., Sallas, B. et al. Facilitative interactions of model- and experiencebased processes: Implications for type and flexibility of representation. Memory & Cognition 36, 157–169 (2008). https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.36.1.157
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.36.1.157