Implicit Nature of Visual Statistical Learning: The Importance of Participants’ Goals and Experimental Paradigm

Abstract

In a recent Letter to the Editor in Cognitive Science, Németh et al. (2026) published a critical commentary in response to our experimental article on the study of visual statistical learning (visual SL) in children aged 3–9 years. The authors present three critical points regarding (1) the inaccurate interpretation of the results of their article, (2) the importance of longitudinal rather than cross-sectional studies in identifying age-related dynamics of visual SL, and (3) our interpretation of SL as not entirely an implicit process. In this letter, we would like to continue the discussion initiated by the authors, as we believe that the issues they have raised are crucial for the studies of SL in general and in the context of children's development in particular. We clarify our interpretation of SL as a not entirely implicit process by addressing the impact of the experimental task and stimulus sequences on the learning process, and the involvement of psychological factors (such as individual expectations from the experiment) on SL.