Hebbian learning of sequences – HEBBIAN

Most of our cognitive activities require processing and memorizing sequences of information. Whether sequences of motor gestures, sounds, letters, or words, we memorize them by associating the elements that make up these sequences. The field of implicit statistical learning aims at understanding the associative mechanisms that allow us to memorize these sequences of information. The HEBBIAN project aims to better understand these fundamental associative mechanisms by relying on recent theoretical models whose general framework is Hebbian learning. This project aims to experimentally study three main questions concerning 1) the role of the spacing between two repetitions of the same sequence in the memorization of this sequence ; 2) the dynamic of sequence encoding as a function of sequence size, number, and learning context ; 3) the problem of parts/whole relations between sequences of different sizes. This experimental work will be carried out in a comparative perspective with humans and non-human primates (Guinea baboons, Papio papio) using serial pointing tasks and classical psycholinguistic tasks, such as the naming or lexical decision tasks, in which a sequence is systematically repeated without the subjects being informed. This experimental work will be done in conjunction with the development and evaluation of two types of models based on the principles of Hebbian learning (psychological models and others that are more plausible on the neurobiological level). All of this work should allow for significant progress in our understanding and conception of these fundamental associative mechanisms.