Neuron
Volume 96, Issue 2, 11 October 2017, Pages 521-534.e7
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Article
A Meta-Analysis Suggests Different Neural Correlates for Implicit and Explicit Learning

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.09.032Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Explicit versus implicit learning have different post-choice oscillatory synchrony

  • Explicit learning exploits feedback about errors; implicit learning does not

  • Alpha/beta synchrony increases with explicit learning

  • Theta synchrony decreases with implicit learning

Summary

A meta-analysis of non-human primates performing three different tasks (Object-Match, Category-Match, and Category-Saccade associations) revealed signatures of explicit and implicit learning. Performance improved equally following correct and error trials in the Match (explicit) tasks, but it improved more after correct trials in the Saccade (implicit) task, a signature of explicit versus implicit learning. Likewise, error-related negativity, a marker for error processing, was greater in the Match (explicit) tasks. All tasks showed an increase in alpha/beta (10–30 Hz) synchrony after correct choices. However, only the implicit task showed an increase in theta (3–7 Hz) synchrony after correct choices that decreased with learning. In contrast, in the explicit tasks, alpha/beta synchrony increased with learning and decreased thereafter. Our results suggest that explicit versus implicit learning engages different neural mechanisms that rely on different patterns of oscillatory synchrony.

Keywords

synchrony
implicit
explicit
reward learning
prefrontal cortex

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