Abstract

Human learning depends on multiple cognitive systems related to dissociable brain structures. These systems interact not only in cooperative but sometimes competitive ways in optimizing performance. Previous studies showed that manipulations reducing the engagement of frontal lobe-mediated explicit, attentional processes can lead to improved performance in striatum-related procedural learning. Here we present four studies in which we investigated the competitive relationship between statistical learning and frontal lobe-mediated executive functions. Our result shed light not only on the competitive nature of brain systems in cognitive processes, but also could have important implications for developing new methods to improve human learning.