THE ROLE OF PERCEPTUAL AND INTROSPECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS IN IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION: THE INFLUENCE OF PRESENTATION TIME

The aim of the studies was to assess the role of perceptual and introspective consciousness in implicit learning process measured by the artificial grammar learning task. Two experiments using artificial grammar learning paradigm were conducted. The presentation time during acquisition phase was manipulated. First experiment showed that perceptual consciousness of stimuli is the necessary condition for acquiring tacit knowledge about letter strings. It also suggests that introspective consciousness could be necessary for the implicit knowledge acquisition. Second experiment showed that participants acquired different kind of knowledge depending on presentation time of letter strings confirming that both perceptual and introspective consciousness influence the results of artificial grammar learning. The results of the studies indicate that perceptual and introspective consciousness are necessary conditions for forming implicit and abstract knowledge in artificial grammar learning task. The results are incoherent with the assumptions of evolutionary theory of implicit knowledge acquisition suggesting necessity of its modification.