ATTENTIONAL AND NONATTENTIONAL FORMS OF SEQUENCE LEARNING

This research investigated the hypothesis that sequential patterns of behavior can be learned by 2 independent mechanisms. One requires attention to the relation between successive events, whereas the other operates independently of such attention. In 4 experiments. subjects learned visuospatial sequences in a serial reaction time task. The relation between attentional and nonattentional learning was explored by assessing the extent to which learning transferred between conditions with or without distraction. The results suggest that attentional and nonattentional learning operate independently, in parallel, do not share information, and represent sequential information in qualitatively different ways.