NARRATIVE ESSAY

Narrative Essay



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, Semantic

Table of Contents

Abstractii

Introduction1

Discussion1

Implicit Memory and Its Components1

Effects That Measure Implicit Memory3

Priming and Its Sub-Types3

Implicit Memory and Counselling5

Tests of Implicit Memory6

Implicit Memory and Brain Injury7

Conclusion7

References9

Implicit Memory

Introduction

There are typically two main categories of memory, not more; implicit and explicit. I was in an accident last year, which changed my life. I was on a vacation, visiting some family in Hampshire. On my way back to London, I met with an accident when a speeding car crashed into mine, sending my car rolling down into a ravine. The injuries were horrendous, and even a year later, I remember the incident like it happened just yesterday. Among the injuries that I suffered, the one to my brain has taken the longest time to recover.

The brain injury made routine tasks a challenge for me. I wanted to write about implicit memory, because its significance in one's life is huge. 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).

I got to know that implicit memory does not have types; however, it has different 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).

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, 2006). 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). 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 phenomenons.

Researchers in the late 1980s came up with the terms under discussion; explicit and implicit memory (Graf and Schacter, 1985). During the last 30 years since these terms were introduced, there has been a lot of debate regarding ...