Attention and Implicit Learning: (48 Advances in Consciousness Research)

Attention and Implicit Learning provides a comprehensive overview of the research conducted in this area. The book is conceived as a multidisciplinary forum of discussion on the question of whether implicit learning may be depicted as a process that runs independently of attention. The volume also deals with the complementary question of whether implicit learning affects the dynamics of attention, and it addresses these questions from perspectives that range from functional to neuroscientific and computational approaches. The view of implicit learning that arises from these pages is not that of a mysterious faculty, but rather that of an elementary ability of the cognitive systems to extract the structure of their environment as it appears directly through experience, and regardless of any intention to do so. Implicit learning, thus, is taken to be a process that may shape not only our behavior, but also our representations of the world, our attentional functions, and even our conscious experience. (Series B)

Table of Contents:
1. Acknowledgement; 2. Contributors; 3. Introduction: Attention to implicit learning (by Jimenez, Luis); 4. Part 1. The cognitive debate; 5. Attention and awareness in "implicit" sequence learning (by Shanks, David R.); 6. Intention, attention, and consciousness in probabilistic sequence learning (by Jimenez, Luis); 7. Part 2. Neuroscientific and computational approaches; 8. Neural structures that support implicit sequence learning (by Hazeltine, Eliot); 9. The cognitive neuroscience of implicit category learning (by Ashby, F. Gregory); 10. Structure and function in sequence learning: Evidence from experimental, neuropsychological and simulation studies (by Dominey, Peter Ford); 11. Temporal effects in sequence learning (by Destrebecqz, Arnaud); 12. Implicit and explicit learning in a unified architecture of cognition (by Wallach, Dieter); 13. Part 3. Reciprocal influences: Implicit learning, attention, and beyond; 14. Visual orienting, learning and conscious awareness (by Lambert, Tony); 15. Contextual cueing: Reciprocal influences between attention and implicit learning (by Jiang, Yuhong); 16. Attention and implicit memory (by Mulligan, Neil W.); 17. The route from implicit learning to verbal expression of what has been learned: Verbal report of incidentally experienced environmental regularity (by Frensch, Peter A.); 18. Author index; 19. Subject index

Review :
In summary, Attention and Implicit Learning discusses a broad array of implicit learning tasks and methodologies, including behavioral experiments, computational models, and neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies. It is a worthwhile contribution that emphasizes theories of implicit learning over theories of attention.