title: Two modes of transfer in artificial grammar learning.
abstract: Participants can transfer grammatical knowledge acquired implicitly in 1 vocabulary to new sequences instantiated in both the same and a novel vocabulary. Two principal theories have been advanced to account for these effects. One suggests that sequential dependencies form the basis for cross-domain transfer (e.g., Z. Dienes, G. T. M. Altmann, & S. J. Gao, 1999). Another argues that a form of episodic memory known as abstract analogy is sufficient (e.g., L. R. Brooks & J. R. Vokey, 1991). Three experiments reveal the contributions of the 2. In Experiment 1 sequential dependencies form the only basis for transfer. Experiment 2 demonstrates that this process is impaired by a change in the distributional properties of the language. Experiment 3 demonstrates that abstract analogy of repetition structure is relatively immune to such a change. These findings inform theories of artificial grammar learning and the transfer of grammatical knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of York, United Kingdom. R.Tunney@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Tunney
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Altmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012691:Serial Learning; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D014825:Vocabulary