IMPLICIT LEARNING OF AN ARTIFICIAL GRAMMAR OF MUSICAL TIMBRES

This study investigates how the artificial grammars of timbres are lea rned. In Experiment 1, the participants listened to sequences of timbr es produced using an artificial grammar. They were then asked to diffe rentiate between sequences which either did or did not violate the gra mmar. The participants in the explicit condition were informed of the existence of rules underlying the sequences. Those in the implicit con dition received no such information (Reber, 1967). Experiment 2 addres sed the influence of the learning mode on the content of the knowledge acquired. At the end of the learning phase, the participants were ask ed to judge the grammaticality of new sequences of timbres (test condi tion) or letters (transfer condition). The results confirmed the advan tage of the implicit condition over the explicit condition but suggest that the knowledge acquired pertained more to surface regularities th an to abstract rules. The results are discussed within the framework o f current work on implicit learning and musical cognition.