Jost Ethan, Conway Christopher M, Purdy John D, Walk Anne M, Hendricks Michelle A
Department of Psychology, Cornell University; Ithaca, NY, USA; Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY, USA.
Department of Psychology, Georgia State University; Atlanta, GA, USA.
Brain Res. 2015 Feb 9;1597:95-107. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2014.10.017. Epub 2014 Dec 2.
Implicit statistical learning (ISL) allows for the learning of environmental patterns and is thought to be important for many aspects of perception, cognition, and language development. However, very little is known about the development of the underlying neural mechanisms that support ISL. To explore the neurodevelopment of ISL, we investigated the event-related potential (ERP) correlates of learning in adults, older children (aged 9-12), and younger children (aged 6-9) using a novel predictor-target paradigm. In this task, which was a modification of the standard oddball paradigm, participants were instructed to view a serial input stream of visual stimuli and to respond with a button press when a particular target appeared. Unbeknownst to the participants, covert statistical probabilities were embedded in the task such that the target was predicted to varying degrees by different predictor stimuli. The results were similar across all three age groups: a P300 component that was elicited by the high predictor stimulus after sufficient exposure to the statistical probabilities. These neurophysiological findings provide evidence for developmental invariance in ISL, with adult-like competence reached by at least age 6.
内隐统计学习（ISL）能够实现对环境模式的学习，并且被认为在感知、认知和语言发展的诸多方面都发挥着重要作用。然而，对于支持ISL的潜在神经机制的发展，我们却知之甚少。为了探究ISL的神经发育过程，我们采用了一种新颖的预测-目标范式，研究了成年人、大龄儿童（9至12岁）和小龄儿童（6至9岁）学习过程中与事件相关的电位（ERP）相关性。在这项对标准oddball范式进行了修改的任务中，参与者被要求观看一系列视觉刺激输入流，并在特定目标出现时按下按钮做出反应。参与者并不知道，任务中暗中嵌入了统计概率，以至于不同的预测刺激对目标的预测程度各不相同。所有三个年龄组的结果都相似：在充分接触统计概率后，高预测刺激会引发一个P300成分。这些神经生理学研究结果为ISL的发育不变性提供了证据，表明至少在6岁时就已具备类似成年人的能力。
