ROLE OF ATTENTION IMPLICIT LEARNING

Previous research has shown that implicit learning of a serial pattern in a reaction time task is eliminated or reduced when the task is performed concurrently with a tone-counting task. These results led to the inference that implicit learning requires attentional capacity. Two experiments tested the alternative hypothesis that the tone-counting task disrupts learning by preventing consistent organization of the sequence. The tone-counting condition was compared with a condition with additional attentional demands, but no disruption of organization, and with a condition with no additional attentional demands, but disruption of organization. The results were consistent with the organizational hypothesis. It is argued that learning depends on practicing consistently organized runs of trials, that shifts of attention may determine how the runs are organized, and that the relation between attention and learning depends more on organization and intention than on capacity.