Universität zu Köln

Röttger, Eva ORCID: 0000-0003-0794-3274 (2019). Implicit sequence learning despite multitasking: The role of across-task predictability, serial processing and separation of representations. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

Implicit learning is a fundamental learning process enabling humans to adapt to regularities in the environment without intention or effort and even without being consciously aware what they learn or that they actually learn (e.g., Dienes & Berry, 1997). One often replicated finding is, however, that implicit sequence learning in a serial reaction time task (SRTT; Nissen & Bullemer, 1987) is impaired in dual-task situations. The aim of the present research was to investigate the mechanisms underlying the impairment vs. the preservation of dual-task implicit sequence learning. In the first study, mainly two accounts were contrasted: task integration (Rah, Reber, & Hsiao, 2000; Schmidtke & Heuer, 1997) vs. parallel response selection (Schumacher & Schwarb, 2009). The results hint at a conception of task integration suggesting that dual-task sequence learning is preserved vs. impaired to the extent that secondary task events are predictable or not. In the second study, the role of two types of across-task predictability was investigated, termed local vs. global depending on the (ambiguous) structure of the SRTT. The findings suggest that an automatic prediction mechanism (cf. Broeker et al., 2017) operates on the global probability of the most contiguous co-occurrences, benefitting only if the local across-task predictability is in accord. In the third study, the finding of preserved sequence learning with long stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and, thus, serial processing (Schumacher & Schwarb, 2009), was further investigated – as well as the question to what extent participants can exploit predictably varying SOAs. Pitting the assumption that varying SOAs trigger a global serial processing strategy (Israel & Cohen, 2011) against the assumption that humans prefer moderately parallel processing (Lehle & Hübner, 2009), it turned out that the latter is probably more appropriate. Learning occurred, mechanistically, only with long SOAs but not strategically with short SOAs as well. It is discussed whether task integration vs. separation can better explain the findings. The outcomes of all three studies hint at the importance of the separation of representations in the face of unpredictable across-task co-occurrences, not only for dual-task implicit sequence learning but probably also for multitasking in general.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Translated title:	Title Language Implizites Sequenzlernen trotz Multitasking: Die Rolle aufgabenübergreifender Vorhersagbarkeit, serieller Verarbeitung und Separierung der Repräsentationen German
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Röttger, Eva roettger.eva@web.de orcid.org/0000-0003-0794-3274 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-99914
Date:	2019
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Human Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Human Sciences > Department Psychologie
Subjects:	Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language implicit sequence learning, multitasking, dual-tasking, task integration, predictive coding, across-task prediction, serial and parallel processing, separation of representations English implizites Lernen, Multitasking, Doppelaufgabentätigkeit, Aufgabenintegration, aufgabenübergreifende Vorhersagbarkeit, serielle und parallele Verarbeitung, Separierung der Repräsentationen German
Date of oral exam:	20 September 2019
Referee:	Name Academic Title Haider, Hilde Prof. Dr. Gaschler, Robert Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/9991