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Poster Session A: Tuesday, August 12, 1:30 – 4:30 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Decoupling levels of learning: behavioral evidence for dissociable low- and high-level structure learning

Beáta Tünde Szabó¹, József Fiser; ¹Central European University

Presenter: Beáta Tünde Szabó

Hierarchical Bayesian models offer a unified framework for understanding both learning and meta-learning—the transfer of abstract knowledge across tasks. We investigate whether these two processes are dissociable through a novel statistical learning paradigm that combines low-level shape pair structures with a higher-order color-based rule. Participants viewed shape scenes organized into covert pairs with consistent color contrast patterns (the pepita rule), followed by tests assessing recognition of both pair-level and meta-structural regularities. Subject-level analyses revealed three learner profiles: (1) those who acquired both low- and high-level structures, (2) those who learned only low-level pairs, and (3) non-learners. Notably, strong low-level learning was a prerequisite for successful meta-learning, aligning with predictions of hierarchical models. These findings support a behavioral dissociation between learning and meta-learning and highlight individual differences in abstract knowledge acquisition and transfer.

Topic Area: Memory, Spatial Cognition & Skill Learning

Extended Abstract: Full Text PDF