Mathematical Psychology
Psychometrics & MeasurementDavid KrantzPatrick SuppesFrederic Lord
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COVIS Model

COVIS (Competition between Verbal and Implicit Systems) proposes that category learning involves two competing systems: an explicit rule-based system and an implicit procedural system.

The COVIS model, developed by F. Gregory Ashby and colleagues (1998), proposes that humans have two qualitatively different category learning systems that compete to control behavior. The explicit (verbal) system learns rule-based categories through hypothesis testing and is mediated by prefrontal cortex. The implicit (procedural) system learns information-integration categories through slow, incremental association learning and is mediated by the tail of the caudate nucleus.

Two Systems

COVIS Architecture Verbal system: hypothesis testing, rule selection, working memory
→ PFC, head of caudate, anterior cingulate
→ Optimal for: rule-based categories

Implicit system: procedural learning, stimulus-response associations
→ Tail of caudate, putamen, premotor cortex
→ Optimal for: information-integration categories

Evidence for Two Systems

Multiple experimental dissociations support COVIS: (1) feedback timing — the implicit system requires immediate feedback, while the verbal system tolerates delays; (2) cognitive load — working memory load impairs rule-based but not information-integration learning; (3) switching costs — switching between verbal and implicit strategies within a session produces interference; (4) neuropsychological evidence — Parkinson's disease impairs implicit category learning while sparing rule-based learning.

Related Topics

Learning ModelsRule-Based Category LearningLearning ModelsExemplar Models (GCM)Learning ModelsALCOVE Model

References

  1. Ashby, F. G., Alfonso-Reese, L. A., Turken, A. U., & Waldron, E. M. (1998). A neuropsychological theory of multiple systems in category learning. Psychological Review, 105(3), 442–481. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.105.3.442
  2. Ashby, F. G., & Maddox, W. T. (2005). Human category learning. Annual Review of Psychology, 56(1), 149–178. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070217
  3. Maddox, W. T., & Ashby, F. G. (2004). Dissociating explicit and procedural-learning based systems of perceptual category learning. Behavioural Processes, 66(3), 309–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2004.03.011
  4. Ashby, F. G., & Valentin, V. V. (2017). Multiple systems of perceptual category learning: Theory and cognitive tests. In H. Cohen & C. Lefebvre (Eds.), Handbook of categorization in cognitive science (2nd ed., pp. 157–188). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101107-2.00007-5

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