Abstract
Neuroimaging of healthy volunteers identified separate neural systems
supporting the expression of category knowledge depending on whether
the learning mode was intentional or incidental. The same visual
category was learned either intentionally or implicitly by two separate
groups of college student participants. During a categorization test,
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare
brain activity evoked by category members and nonmembers. After implicit
learning, when participants had learned the category incidentally,
decreased occipital activity was observed for novel categorical stimuli
compared with noncategorical stimuli. In contrast, after intentional
learning, novel categorical stimuli evoked increased activity in
the hippocampus, right prefrontal cortex, left inferior temporal
cortex, precuneus, and posterior cingulate. Even though the categorization
test was identical in the two conditions, the differences in brain
activity indicate differing representations of category knowledge
depending on whether the category had been learned intentionally
or implicitly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA, all rights
reserved)
Users
Please
log in to take part in the discussion (add own reviews or comments).