Neural evidence of statistical learning: efficient detection of visual regularities without awareness.

Full Abstract

Our environment contains regularities distributed in space and time that can be detected by way of statistical learning. This unsupervised learning occurs without intent or awareness, but little is known about how it relates to other types of learning, how it affects perceptual processing, and how quickly it can occur. Here we use fMRI during statistical learning to explore these questions. Participants viewed statistically structured versus unstructured sequences of shapes while performing a task unrelated to the structure. Robust neural responses to statistical structure were observed, and these responses were notable in four ways: First, responses to structure were observed in the striatum and medial temporal lobe, suggesting that statistical learning may be related to other forms of associative learning and relational memory. Second, statistical regularities yielded greater activation in category-specific visual regions (object-selective lateral occipital cortex and word-selective ventral occipito-temporal cortex), demonstrating that these regions are sensitive to information distributed in time. Third, evidence of learning emerged early during familiarization, showing that statistical learning can operate very quickly and with little exposure. Finally, neural signatures of learning were dissociable from subsequent explicit familiarity, suggesting that learning can occur in the absence of awareness. Overall, our findings help elucidate the underlying nature of statistical learning.

Author information

Author/s: Turk-Browne, Nicholas B (NB); Scholl, Brian J (BJ); Chun, Marvin M (MM); Johnson, Marcia K (MK);

Affiliation: Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. nicholas.turk-browne(-atsign-)yale.edu

Grants: AG09253 (Agency:NIA NIH HHS) ; EY014193 (Agency:NEI NIH HHS) ; P30 EY000785 (Agency:NEI NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Journal of cognitive neuroscience (J Cogn Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Oct; vol 21 (issue 10) : pp 1934-45

Dates: Created 2009/08/24; Completed 2009/10/29; Revised 2009/11/09;

PMID: 18823241, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/10/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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