The Effect Of Working Memory Load On Two Kinds Of Category Learning

Category learning is a process that learners learn how to classify correctly after some practice. It is one of the most important aspects of cognitive psychology. The traditional theories of category learning consider that people has a single category learning system, but in past decade, its focus was the multiple systems of category learning, which suggests that there are at least two distinct types of category learning systems:an explicit, hypothesis-testing system and an implicit, procedural learning system. The rule-based category learning is based on the explicit, hypothesis-testing system and it depends on working memory and executive attention. The information-integration category learning is based on the implicit, procedural learning system.On the base of the multiple systems of category learning, our research investigated the effects of a concurrent working memory load task on rule-based category learning and on information-integration category learning and the effects of the different working memory loads on these two kinds of category learning.Our research used the pattern of dual task. The 122 subjects who were university students were tested in different category learning tasks. The research was composed of two experiments. The first experiment discussed the difference of the two kinds of category learning in single task and dual task. We found that the concurrent working memory load task impaired the rule-based category learning, but did not significantly impair the information-integration category learning. The second experiment investigated the difference of these two kinds of category learning in high working memory load condition and low working memory load condition. The results indicated that the rule-based category learning's classification accuracy was dramatically impaired and its classification reaction time became longer in the high working memory load condition. But there was no significant difference in the information-integration category learning's classification accuracy, however, its classification reaction time became much longerIn conclusion, the results of this research suggest that working memory load has different effects on these two kinds of category learning. The dual working memory load task disrupts the rule-based category learning and its performance become much worse when the working memory load is higher. But the information-integration category learning is not disrupted by the dual working memory load task. So, the results support the notion of at least two systems of category learning.