On "learning without awareness of what is being learned."

Abstract

Thorndike and Rock 1 have offered evidence that "a satisfying after-effect could strengthen the connection which it followed and to which it belonged in cases where the learner did not know what the connection was." The value of this evidence, however, rests upon an assumption which seems open to question, namely, that lack of awareness of what was being learned was indicated by continued slow 'learning' without a sudden increase in the percentage of successes. This point can best be made clear by a description of the procedure of the experiment in question.The instructions to the subjects were as follows: 2"'I shall say 'Ready' and then say a word. You will say the first word or words that you think of. I will record the time in fifths of a second. Then I will say another word. You will say the first word or words that you think of. I will record the time as before. We will continue this. At the end of the experiment, you will receive a money bonus depending upon how quickly you respond on the average. Also I shall say 'Right' if the word that you say is one of ten or more that we have arbitrarily decided to call right as responses to the word in question. I shall say 'Wrong' if the word that you say is one of ten or more that we have arbitrarily decided to call wrong as responses to the word in question. Sometimes I shall say nothing because the word that you say is in neither our list of Rights nor our list of Wrongs for the word in question. At the end of the experiment, you will receive a money bonus depending on a system of credits for Rights and penalties for Wrongs. Speed is the main thing. The number of Rights versus Wrongs is a minor thing.'" A number of words were then read to him, one at a time. "In each case, if his response is clearly due to the sequential connections used in speaking and writing • • • he is rewarded by the announcement 'Right.' If his response is

Descriptive behaviorism versus cognitive theory in verbal operant conditioning.

“…Hence, they regarded the gradual increase in sequential responses, which they in fact obtained, as providing evidence for learning without awareness. This interpretation, however, was immediately challenged by the demonstra-tion that similar gradual performance gains ensued even when subjects were informed of the basis of reinforcement (Irwin, Kauffman, Prior, & Weaver, 1934). It is perhaps an unfortunate commentary on the narrow, behavioristic Zeitgeist then prevailing that the simple procedure of questioning subjects was not utilized in either of these studies.…”

“…It is perhaps an unfortunate commentary on the narrow, behavioristic Zeitgeist then prevailing that the simple procedure of questioning subjects was not utilized in either of these studies. Irwin et al (1934), while they did not fill the need for measures of insight or awareness that are operationally independent of performance, helped at least to make the need evident. More recently, the quest for such measures has generally led to the use of systematically obtained verbal reports.…”

Learning without awareness and extinction following awareness as a function of reinforcement.

“…Irwin, Kaufman, Prior, and Weaver (6) showed, however, that the shape of the learning curve by itself is not an adequate index of the presence or absence of awareness. Even when Ss were explicitly taught the correct principle, the acquisition curve still showed a gradual rise; i.e., successful application of the principle required practice.…”

Influence of awareness of reinforcement on verbal conditioning.

“…The validity of this evidence rested upon the assumption that lack of awareness was indicated by continuous slow learning. Criticizing the criterion used by Thorndike, other experimenters (7,8,9) presented evidence which left unverified the assumption of lack of awareness which was essential for Thorndike. Additional results (12) showed only little evidence for learning without awareness,…”