A premise of statistical learning research is that learners attend to and learn the frequencies of co-occurring sounds in the input, or phonotactic sequences. Inherent to the concepts of both frequency and phonotactics is order, or the temporal arrangement of the relevant elements. Order is similarly inherent to statistical learning, yet the…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the components of a profound moment. We provisionally defined a profound moment as an experience that intentionally or unintentionally continues to surface in consciousness, has transformed an individual's fundamental perspectives, and been integrated into an individual's life. Participants who…

During language acquisition, children are tasked with the challenge of determining which words can appear in which syntactic constructions. This has been long recognized as a learnability paradox. On one hand, there are generalizations that children must learn. On the other hand, language is known for its arbitrariness, so children also need to…

Recursive hierarchical embedding allows humans to generate multiple hierarchical levels using simple rules. We can acquire recursion from exposure to linguistic and visual examples, but only develop the ability to understand "multiple-level" structures like "[[second] red] ball]" after mastering "same-level"…

Contending with talker variability has been found to lead to processing costs but also benefits by focusing learners on invariant properties of the signal, indicating that talker variability acts as a desirable difficulty. That is, talker variability may lead to initial costs followed by long-term benefits for retention and generalization. Adult…

Statistical learning (SL), the ability to detect and extract regularities from inputs, has been considered as an early-maturing and domain-general mechanism that is critical for typical language development. However, recent evidence in neurotypical adults and children have found that individuals can vary in their SL abilities across linguistic and…

The rise of technological advancements and the pandemic have made distance education increasingly prevalent, demanding high levels of self-regulation. This research addresses the integration of three core developmental regulation models of lifespan development and the motivators proposed by self-determination theory. Although regulation models are…

Some theories have proposed that autistic individuals have difficulty learning predictive relationships. We tested this hypothesis using a serial reaction time task in which participants learned to predict the locations of a repeating sequence of target locations. We conducted a large-sample online study with 61 autistic and 71 neurotypical…

Most research on virtual reality (VR) for learning has focused on young populations in formal learning contexts. Little research has been conducted on how adults engage in informal learning using VR. This study examined adults' informal learning experiences in high-immersion VR, focusing on the aspects of VR they enjoyed and the challenges they…

The current study investigated whether semantic (meaning) knowledge benefits learning orthography (spelling). Adult readers read 14 novel non-words embedded in sentences with informative or uninformative context. Orthographic and semantic posttests assessed learning. In E1, results indicated that the relationship between context and orthographic…

In this paper, the researchers report an experimental study on conceptual knowledge learning and application through embodied interactions, expecting that bodily movements would facilitate learning in a positive manner. The intervention was enabled by Unity3D and Kinect V2, and taught novice adult learners the concepts of and conversions between…

Research has indicated that resultant cross-cultural experiences from migration are precursors of transformative learning. This study explores transformative learning processes and outcomes for perspective transformation among Nigerian immigrants in Italy and the United States. Multiple-case study and convergent mixed-methods research designs were…

Self-derivation of new factual knowledge is crucial for building a knowledge base. In three experiments, we investigated self-derivation about prescription medications. In Experiment 1, adults self-derived new knowledge across textual materials on 40% of trials. Participants in Experiment 2 performed similarly (42%), even when half the information…

Posttraining meditation has been shown to promote wakeful memory stabilization of explicit motor sequence information in learners who are experienced meditators. We investigated the effect of single-session mindfulness meditation on wakeful and sleep-dependent forms of implicit motor memory consolidation in meditation naïve adults. Immediately…

Previous studies attest that early bilinguals can modify their perceptual identification according to the fine-grained phonetic detail of the language they believe they are hearing. Following Gonzales et al. (2019), we replicate the double phonemic boundary effect in late learners (LBs) using conceptual-based cueing. We administered a forced…