On consciousness in syntactic learning and judgment: A reply to Reber, Allen, and Regan.

Responds to comments by A. S. Reber et al (see record 1986-03030-001) on the present authors' (see record 1985-29949-001) analysis of consciousness and abstraction in the case of syntactical learning and judgment. The methodological criticism of Reber et al is rejected, and it is asserted that assessment at the moment of judgment rather than recall maximizes the validity of reports of rules in consciousness at many moments of judgment. Broader issues discussed include judgment after early learning and after automatization, correlated grammars and consciousness, the scope and mental abstractness of rules, conscious and unconscious control, and intuition. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)