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Implicit and Explicit Learning of Temporal Sequences Studied With the Process Dissociation Procedure

Neuropediatric Research Unit Q2:07, Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Submitted 1 December 2007; accepted in final form 17 May 2008

We studied whether temporal sequences can be learned implicitly using a process dissociation procedure (PDP). Participants performed repeated serial recalls of sequential stimuli with a random ordinal structure and fixed temporal structure. Explicit knowledge was evaluated through verbal questions and PDP analysis of two generation tasks (inclusion and exclusion). Participants were divided into two groups: in the Ordinal group, stimulus presentation was visual and the participants were instructed to repeat the ordinal structure; in the Temporal+Ordinal group, stimulus presentation was audio-visual and the participants were instructed to repeat temporal and ordinal structure. We expected predominantly implicit learning in the Ordinal group and explicit learning in the Temporal+Ordinal group. This was supported by two findings. First, a significant difference between inclusion and exclusion performance was seen only in the Temporal+Ordinal group. Second, in both groups, a negative relation was found between the degree of improvement during serial recall and a measure of explicit knowledge in the generation tasks. This relation was independent of the final level of performance during serial recall. These findings suggest that distinct implicit and explicit systems may exist for learning of temporal sequences: implicit learning is gradual and gives rise to knowledge that is inaccessible to conscious control while the explicit system is fast and results in representations that can be used to control performance in inclusion and exclusion tasks.