IMPLICIT MEMORY

Implicit Memory

Abstract

This paper is a detailed discussion on implicit memory and the effects used to measure this type of long-term memory. The paper discusses the main effect, which is priming. There are many sub-types of priming, which are used to measure implicit memory.

Key words: perceptual, conceptual, and semantic.

Table of Contents

Abstractii

Introduction1

Discussion1

Implicit Memory and Its Components1

Effects That Measure Implicit Memory2

Priming and Its Sub-Types2

Tests of Implicit Memory4

Implicit Memory and Brain Injury5

Conclusion6

References7

Implicit Memory

Introduction

There are typically two main categories of memory; implicit and explicit. Implicit is that which a person recalls in their brain unconsciously due to an experience. This may help in performing a task or expressing one's knowledge without thinking about how it was learnt. Explicit memory is the information retained on a conscious level (Toth et al, 1999, pp. 232). Implicit memory does not have types; however, there are effects. One of the main effects is priming, which is a process whereby subjects show improved performance on tasks for which they have been subconsciously prepared. Priming has many types; perceptual and conceptual, repetition, semantic, response, associative, and masked (Ghetti, 2003, pp. 722).

Discussion

Implicit Memory and Its Components

Implicit memory, in the words of some researchers, “It's like riding a bike: once you've learned it, you'll never forget how to do it” (Newcombe and Lloyd, pp. 01). Once a person experiences something in life, they tend to remember parts of it if not all. People recall these early experiences as implicit memory as they are on an unconscious level. When a baby learns to walk, it faces a lot of difficulty. Gradually, after many falls and help from parents, it learns to balance itself and walk. This is implicit memory when the baby carries on walking and then begins to run. In the developmental procedure, implicit memory has been found to be present since the beginning of life. It usually does not change due to age as explicit memory does (Reber, 1989, pp. 219). However, there is a lot of contradiction in this statement. Since the past thirty years, it has been found that implicit and explicit memory is two distinct phenomenon.

Researchers in the late 1980s came up with the terms under discussion; explicit and implicit memory (Graf and Schacter, 1985, pp. 501). During the last 30 years since these terms were introduced, there has been a lot of debate regarding memory systems (Tulving, 2002, pp. 20). There have been exceptional advances in neuroscience, which has provided highly valuable understanding of memory systems. Even technology has helped make research, on implicit memory, easier. There are techniques like MRIs and eye tracking and ERP readings which help to determine the nature of implicit memory.

There are various publications on implicit memory, and this is a very common phenomenon in psychology. Many psychiatrists use experiments based on implicit memory to help their patients. Perhaps the most extensively studied implicit memory phenomenon is that of repetition, or direct priming (Schacter et al, 1993, pp.160). However, various different effects have been discovered, and all are distinct in their own ...