APPLICATION OF IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE - DETERMINISTIC OR PROBABILISTIC

This paper distinguishes two models specifying the application of impl icit knowledge. According to one model, originally suggested by Reber (1967), subjects either apply sufficient knowledge to always produce a correct response or else they guess randomly (High Threshold Theory; subjects only apply knowledge when there is sufficient knowledge to ex ceed a threshold ensuring a correct response); according to the other model, suggested by Dienes (1992), subjects respond with a certain pro bability towards each item, where the probability is determined by the match between the items structure and the induced constraints about t he structure (probability Matching Theory; subjects match their probab ility of responding against their personal probability that the item b elongs to a certain category). One parameter versions of both models w ere specified and then tested against the data generated from three ar tificial grammar learning experiments. Neither theory could account fo r all features of the data, and extensions of the theories are suggest ed.