Implicit Learning: Critical Aspects of its Definition and some of its Implicances

The term "implicit leaming" was coined by A.S. Reber in 1965; it refers to the acquisition of complex knowledge that takes place incidentally and without awareness of what has been acquired. Within the context of an increased interest in the unconscious cognition in general, in the last two decades there has been a burst of the interest on implicit leaming, new experimental paradigms have been developed and its essentials features and the kind of representations implicated, among others, are being debated. The critical aspects of the reberian definition of the concept and the evidence that supports or contradicts it are reviewed. Some of its implications and potential applications in the educational field are also commented