Title:
The effects of the rate of interaction on implicit statistical learning
Supervisors:
Vitor Zimmerer and Rosemary Varley
Contact:
v.zimmerer@ucl.ac.uk
Project description:
Statistical learning is central to extracting regularities from complex environments. It plays a
substantial role in understanding events and learning complex actions. We are interested in the
effect of interaction with the environment on implicit learning of statistical regularities.
Serial reaction time (SRT) tasks are motor-driven learning tasks (Robertson, 2007). Stimuli are
presented at different positions on a computer screen. The order in which stimuli appear is either
fixed or determined by a set of rules. Each stimulus position is mapped to a response button and the
participant is instructed to press the matching button as quickly as possible after a stimulus onset.
Reaction time data provide information of which properties of stimulus sequences were learned.
Regularities can be extracted by interacting with the stimuli (i.e. button presses) and/or by
observation. We will explore the role of both modes in statistical learning by varying the percentage
of stimuli that are “targets”, i.e. the percentage of stimuli that require a button press, across SRT
conditions. Results will provide evidence for how both forms of learning are integrated.
You will collect and analyse data under supervision.
We have ethical approval for this study.
Reference:
Robertson, E. M. (2007). The serial reaction time task: implicit motor skill learning? The Journal of
Neuroscience, 27(38), 10073–10075.