How rule learning and associative learning relate to the storage and executive components of working memory

The dual-process and propositional accounts of learning hold opposite views regarding the recruitment of higher mental processes in rule learning and associative learning. Taking an individual difference perspective, the... [ view full abstract ]

The dual-process and propositional accounts of learning hold opposite views regarding the recruitment of higher mental processes in rule learning and associative learning. Taking an individual difference perspective, the current study focused on the covariation of rule learning and associative learning, and investigated to what extent executive control and storage components of working memory explain rule learning and associative learning. A sample of 184 young adults completed tasks of associative learning and rule learning, as well as measures of working memory, short-term storage and executive control. Results showed that the latent correlation between associative learning and rule learning was rather small (r = .16). Short-term storage was related to both types of learning at only a small to moderate level (r = .27 and .36 respectively). In contrast, executive control showed a substantial relationship with rule learning (r = .50), whereas no significant link was found to associative learning. These results suggest a dissociation between rule learning and associative learning in terms of the associated cognitive processes, which supports the dual-process account of learning over the propositional account of learning.