Implicit Learning and Tacit Knowledge: An Essay on the Cognitive Unconscious(19 Oxford Psychology Series)

Implicit knowledge, a term coined by Reber in 1965, is acquired independent of conscious attempts to learn, and generally without the capacity to communicate what has been acquired. One of the core assumptions of this argument is that implicit learning is a fundamental process, one that lies at the very heart of the adaptive behavioural repertoire of every complex organism. This is a highly readable account of the cognitive unconscious, focusing in particular on the problem of implicit learning.

Table of Contents:
1: Introductory Remarks 1.1: On Learning 1.2: On Evolution 1.3: On Measuring the Contents of Consciousness 1.4: On Intelligence and Instruction 1.5: A Note on Terminology 1.6: A Rapid Historical Overview 1.7: Summary 1.8: A Personal Aside 2: Implicit Cognition: The Data Base 2.1: The Polarity Fallacy 2.2: On the Primacy of the Implicit 2.3: On Functionalism 2.4: Some Assumptions 2.5: Experimental Procedures 2.6: Empirical Studies of Implicit Learning 2.7: Methodological Issues in Implicit and Explicit Learning 3: Evolutionary Considerations: The Primacy of the Implicit 3.1: Some Introductory Remarks 3.2: The Evolutionist's Line 3.3: An Evolutionary Context for the Cognitive Unconscious 3.4: Hypothesized Characteristics of Implicit Systems 4: Implicit Issues: Some Extensions and Some Speculations 4.1: Implicit Learning and/or Implicit Memory 4.2: On Rules 4.3: Knowledge Representation 4.4: On Consciousness 4.5: Prediction and Generation of Events 4.6: Nativism and Empiricism 4.7: Afterwords 4.8: In Summary

Review :
"Insightful. [Reber's] work, which ranges from historical background, through data review, to far-reaching extensions and speculations, will be of greatest interest to graduate students and researchers of cognitive psychology, but the crisp, clear writing will be accessible to advanced undergraduates." --Choice "In arguing forcefully for the concept of implicit learning, and in backing his arguments with provocative, well-designed research, Reber has made important contributions to the study of the cognitive unconscious. . . . he has forged new connections between human and animal cognition. This is a valuable book, that should be read by everyone with an interest in the nature of unconscious mental life." --John F. Kihlstrom (Univ of Arizona), Science "Arthur S. Reber is perhaps the most prolific scientific contributor today to the large and burgeoning literature on implicit learning, starting with studies of miniature grammar." --American Scientist "In aspiring to resituate the question of learning as a problem of acquisition rather than representation, [Reber] clearly strikes at the central premise of cognitive approaches to learning and teaching and allows us to bring those premises up for inspection. This has got to be both a crucial and fascinating concern for many adult educators who have been so enamored for the past several decades with such issues as learning how to learn, metacognition, and lifelong learning....Those of us interested in the construction of knowledge and the power of research traditions can glean a lot from this insider's view of thirty years of empirical work....The questions the work deals with should be important to us as adult educators if we are truly concerned about how adults learn and how to structure our attempts at instruction." --Adult Education Quarterly "Insightful. [Reber's] work, which ranges from historical background, through data review, to far-reaching extensions and speculations, will be of greatest interest to graduate students and researchers of cognitive psychology, but the crisp, clear writing will be accessible to advanced undergraduates." --Choice "In arguing forcefully for the concept of implicit learning, and in backing his arguments with provocative, well-designed research, Reber has made important contributions to the study of the cognitive unconscious. . . . he has forged new connections between human and animal cognition. This is a valuable book, that should be read by everyone with an interest in the nature of unconscious mental life." --John F. Kihlstrom (University of Arizona), Science "Arthur S. Reber is perhaps the most prolific scientific contributor today to the large and burgeoning literature on implicit learning, starting with studies of miniature grammar." --American Scientist "In aspiring to resituate the question of learning as a problem of acquisition rather than representation, [Reber] clearly strikes at the central premise of cognitive approaches to learning and teaching and allows us to bring those premises up for inspection. This has got to be both a crucial and fascinating concern for many adult educators who have been so enamored for the past several decades with such issues as learning how to learn, metacognition, and lifelong learning....Those of us interested in the construction of knowledge and the power of research traditions can glean a lot from this insider's view of thirty years of empirical work....The questions the work deals with should be important to us as adult educators if we are truly concerned about how adults learn and how to structure our attempts at instruction." --Adult Education Quarterly