Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Understanding the process of adult language learning has recently undergone advances due to the consideration ofhow individual differences (IDs) in cognitive processing, such as working memory (WM), affect acquisition. We know thatimplicit versus explicit learning conditions also influence learning, however, the potential interactions between IDs, the efficacyof implicit versus explicit learning, and different types of linguistic information are largely unknown. In this study, we testedlearning of syntax and grammatical case under two conditions: incidental and explicit rule-provision (“instructed”). We alsoassessed individuals’ WM, phonological working memory (PWM), and learning styles. Significant learning effects were foundfor word order and case in both learning conditions. For case, but not for word order, the instructed group outperformed theincidental group. Regarding IDs, incidental learning of case was marginally related to individuals’ WM; instructed learning ofcase was related to PWM. For learning styles, there was a negative relationship between learning of word order in the instructedcondition and a deductive learning style. These results reveal the complex relationships among cognitive processes in explicitand implicit language learning across different aspects of language structure, and in relation to cognitive IDs.