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Statistical Learning and Its Consequences

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The Influence of Attention, Learning, and Motivation on Visual Search

Part of the book series: Nebraska Symposium on Motivation ((NSM))

Abstract

Statistical learning refers to an unconscious cognitive process in which repeated patterns, or regularities, are extracted from the sensory environment. In this chapter, I describe what is currently known about statistical learning. First, I classify types of regularities that exist in the visual environment. Second, I introduce a family of experimental paradigms that have been used to study statistical learning in the laboratory. Third, I review a series of behavioral and functional neuroimaging studies that seek to uncover the underlying nature of statistical learning. Finally, I consider ways in which statistical learning may be important for perception, attention, and visual search. The goals of this chapter are thus to highlight the prevalence of regularities, to explain how they are extracted by the mind and brain, and to suggest that the resulting knowledge has widespread consequences for other aspects of cognition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Green Hall, 08540, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Nicholas B. Turk-Browne

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  1. Nicholas B. Turk-Browne
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Correspondence to Nicholas B. Turk-Browne .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nebraska, 222 Burnett Hall, Lincoln, 68588, Nebraska, USA

    Michael D. Dodd

  2. University of Nebraska, Burnett Hall 219, Lincoln, 68588-0308, Nebraska, USA

    John H. Flowers

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Turk-Browne, N. (2012). Statistical Learning and Its Consequences. In: Dodd, M., Flowers, J. (eds) The Influence of Attention, Learning, and Motivation on Visual Search. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4794-8_6

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