Implicit Learning in Special Populations

这项研究旨在提高我们对人类思维的内隐、无意识方面的理解。众所周知，人们在不知不觉中学会了一些东西。这方面最引人注目的例子是我们每个人在孩提时代学习的自然语言和我们社会中复杂的社会文化习俗。近年来，认知心理学家对这一过程有了很大的了解，并了解了它与在完全意识的情况下发生的有意识的、明确的学习有何不同。该项目的研究旨在探索这项工作的几个新扩展，特别是内隐学习如何在特殊人群中出现以及它与有意识学习的区别。具体来说，该研究将检查这些无意识过程在轻度抑郁和/或焦虑患者中继续运作的程度，这些情况已知会干扰有意识的学习过程。该项目还将探索幼儿展示内隐学习能力的方式，期望他们只要不有意识地尝试学习，就能完全有能力学习高度复杂的系统。该研究将探讨的另一个重要问题是，这些内隐过程是否会像已知的有意识学习那样随着年龄而变化。为此，该研究将对4岁至12岁的儿童进行调查。最后，该项目将探索内隐学习、有意识学习和智力之间的关系，通过标准智商测试来衡量。这项研究对认知心理学中的许多重要问题都有启示，特别是内隐学习和各种复杂的人类技能之间的关系，这些技能是人们经常展示的，但在很大程度上是在意识之外的。关键的例子是直觉判断的发展，医学诊断中显示的复杂技能的获得，国际象棋等复杂游戏中高水平技能的发展，以及适应文化和组织环境的能力。

This research is designed to improve our understanding of the implicit, unconscious aspects of human thought. It is well known that people learn things without being aware of having learned them. The most compelling examples of this are the natural language we each learned as a child and the complex social- cultural mores of our society. In recent years cognitive psychologists have come to understand a good deal about this process and how it differs from the conscious, explicit learning that takes place in the full light of awareness. The research in this project is designed to explore several novel extensions of this work, particularly how implicit learning emerges in special populations and how it differs from conscious learning. Specifically, the research will examine the degree to which these unconscious processes continue to operate in persons with mild depression and/or anxiety, conditions which are known to interfere with conscious learning processes. The project will also explore the manner in which young children display the capacity for implicit learning, with the expectation that they will be fully capable of learning about highly complex systems so long as they are not consciously trying to learn. An additional important question the research will examine is whether or not these implicit processes change with age as conscious learning is known to. To this end the research will examine children from ages four through twelve. Finally, the project will explore the relationships between implicit learning, conscious learning, and intelligence, as measured by standard IQ tests. The research has implications for a number of important issues in cognitive psychology, particularly the relationship between implicit learning and various complex human skills which people routinely display but which lie largely outside of awareness. Key examples are the development of intuitive judgment, the acquisition of sophisticated skills such as those displayed in medical diagnosis, the development of high level skills in complex games like chess, and the capacity to adjust to cultural and organizational settings.