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Public Library of Science, PLoS ONE, 3(7), p. e33400, 2012

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033400

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Rapidly measuring the speed of unconscious learning: amnesics learn quickly and happy people slowly

Journal article published in 2012 by Zoltan Dienes ORCID, Roland J. Baddeley, Ashok S. Jansari
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Background: We introduce a method for quickly determining the rate of implicit learning. Methodology: The task involves making a binary prediction for a probabilistic sequence over 10 minutes; from this it is possible to determine the influence of events of a different number of trials in the past on the current decision. This profile directly reflects the learning rate parameter of a large class of learning algorithms including the delta and Rescorla-Wagner rules. To illustrate the use of the method, we compare a person with amnesia with normal controls and we compare people with induced happy and sad moods. Conclusions: Learning on the task is likely both associative and implicit. We argue theoretically and demonstrate empirically that both amnesia and also transient negative moods can be associated with an especially large learning rate: People with amnesia can learn quickly and happy people slowly.