%% ### ==Todo== - [ ] Add from [[Learning and Memory]], ch. 11, "explicit memory" - [ ] Seel, Bottom-Up Learning and Top-Down Learning - [ ] Read https://www.meaningcrisis.co/episode-2-flow-metaphor-and-the-axial-revolution/ where Vervaeke talks about intuition. - [ ] What's the issue with confusing correlational with causal patterns? - [ ] What does Vervaeke recommend for improving implicit learning? - [ ] Hogarth’s conditions to ensure that you’re doing good implicit learning: Information has to be clear. It has to be tightly coupled. Error has to matter. - [ ] Probably [[The Myth of Experience]] also says useful things about issues in implicit pattern learning. - [ ] Add from [[Attention is the selection and amplification of sensory information]]: attention-dependency of implicit learning %% Implicit learning is characterized by more **unconscious and unintentional operations**. In contrast, [[Explicit learning is characterized by more conscious and intentional operations]]. The distinction between explicit and implicit learning is often used synonymously with the **[[The declarative learning pathway sends information from working memory to both the hippocampus (indexing the information) and the neocortex (storing information in long-term memory)|declarative]] versus [[The procedural learning pathway takes input from the entire cortex and sends it through the basal ganglia to create links in long-term memory|procedural]] distinction**. Building on [[How to define learning?]], we can **define implicit learning** as relatively long-lasting changes in behavior and/or knowledge caused by experience *in the absence of conscious awareness of what has been learned*. It involves becoming sensitive to the regularities or patterns in one's environment (National Academies, 2018). An **example** of implicit learning is to pick up on regularities in human language when being exposed to it, such as when one is living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. People spontaneously and without conscious effort pick up on the regularities contained in language and use those to produce their own utterances. There are three major **types of implicit learning** (Polk, 2018): - [[Procedural learning is about the ability to carry out a sequence of operations]] - [[Nonassociative learning involves a change in behavior as a result of exposure to a single stimulus]] - [[Associative learning involves learning the relationship between two events that occur together]] The **distinguishing characteristics** of implicit learning include (Oakley et al., 2021; Polk, 2018; Seel, 2012): - Absence of conscious awareness of the process and/or outcomes of learning - Inability to verbally explain (declare) the process and/or outcomes of learning - Incidental learning that is unplanned or unintended; a mere side effect of the learner's actions and experiences - Inability to control learning: E.g., the learner can't voluntarily stop the learning once it has started. - Efficiency: The learning consumes minimal attentional resources; it places less demand on working memory. - Little or no verbal instruction - Slow and gradual acquisition: It typically takes time and repeated exposure or practice. - Fast deployment: Once learned, the learning can be put to use rapidly. - Limited transfer: The acquired knowledge is relatively inflexible and cannot easily be transferred to similar tasks. See also Wikipedia's list of [characteristics of implicit systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicit_learning#Characteristics_of_implicit_systems). It's possible that different types of implicit learning vary in the extent to which they exhibit the above characteristics. For example, maybe there's a kind of learning that happens outside of awareness but with a clear intention to learn. [[Robin M. Hogarth]] in his book "[Educating Intuition](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226348628/)" makes the interesting claim that **intuition** is the result of implicit learning. Intuition has many of the characteristics listed above, so this seems plausible to me. Information learned in this way is stored as **implicit memory** (Lieberman, 2021). --- Created: [[2022-12-18]] Type: #permanent Topics: [[Learning (Index)]] Related notes: - [[What are the different types of learning?]] - [[Explicit learning is characterized by more conscious and intentional operations]] - [[There are two main types of long-term memory and pathways to store information in long-term memory – declarative (explicit) and procedural (implicit)]] - [[The procedural learning pathway takes input from the entire cortex and sends it through the basal ganglia to create links in long-term memory]] - [[Implicit memory doesn't require conscious awareness for learning and retrieval, although it can be present]]