ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of different dominant cognitive theories that account for enhanced learning under Errorless (EL) conditions, but also to consider recent neurobiological findings that may help advance our understanding of some of the cognitive and brain correlates associated with this learning principle. Baddeley A. D and Wilson B. A were the first to identify implicit memory capacity as key to enhanced performance under EL conditions. Techniques such as electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging allow a more direct quantification of how the brain functions and responds to learning under errorful and EL conditions. In contrast, EL learning, through facilitating consolidation of correct memory traces only, increases the likelihood of accurate response retrieval even in the context of a damaged residual explicit memory system. Conventional error-based learning, that involves conscious processing and correction of errors, is an example of a task that relies on the explicit memory system.
