IMPLICIT LEARNING IN PROBLEM-SOLVING - THE ROLE OF WORKING-MEMORY CAPACITY

Participants solving the Balls and Boxes puzzle for the first time wer e slowed in proportion to the level of working memory (WM) reduction r esulting from a concurrent secondary task. On a second and still chall enging solution of the same puzzle, performance was greatly improved, and the same WM load did not impair problem-solving efficiency. Thus, the effect of Wh I capacity reduction was selective for the first solu tion of the puzzle, indicating that learning to solve the puzzle, a vi tal part of the first solution, is slowed by the secondary WM-loading task. Retrospective verbal reports, tests of specific puzzle knowledge , and a recognition test of potential strategies all indicated that pa rticipants were unaware of their knowledge of the puzzle, suggesting t hat it had been learned implicitly. Concurrent protocols collected fro m participants supported this conclusion and further suggested that pa rticipants were not aware of learning to solve the puzzle as this lear ning occurred. These results provide evidence that implicit learning d epends on WM capacity and that implicit memory can play an important r ole in problem solving.