Future directions for implicit learning: Toward a clarification of issues associated with knowledge representation and consciousness

Areas of agreement and disagreement regarding knowledge representation and consciousness within implicit learning research are reviewed. It is argued that further progress in the field requires more precise definitions of abstract and episodic knowledge, and of conscious and unconscious forms of cognition. In particular, we argue that implicit learning research should be informed by more general theories of memory and performance, and that concepts such as consciousness are unlikely to act as explanatory constructs within this approach.