Completely ruled out? Using response time data to investigate biconditional artificial grammar learning
Josephine J. Cock · The European Journal of Cognitive Psychology · 2005
Two experiments are reported on incidental learning using a biconditional artificial grammar (based on Johnstone & Shanks, 2001). Phonological repetition of rule-related letters was encouraged by requiring participants to write down and rehearse each training exemplar aloud for several seconds (Experiment 1). A cover story was introduced emphasising the relatedness of the two halves of each exemplar but without mentioning the rules (Experiment 2). Participants had no explicit knowledge of the rules and grammaticality classification was mostly at chance. Confidence judgements (Experiment 2) did not distinguish between numbers of correct and incorrect responses. The important finding was that response times were faster for grammatical than ungrammatical test exemplars. Results are discussed with reference to phonological phrasing, fluency, and competition between controlled and automatic processes.