Distinctions between Implicit and Explicit Memory: Significance for Understanding Cognitive Development

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda J. Anooshian

This research was designed to explore developmental trends for implicit and explicit memory as well as relations between memory measures and other aspects of cognitive development for preschool and second-grade children, and adults. For one task, children and adults gradually clarified patterns of random dots until they could identify an emerging picture, in each of two testing sessions separated by one week. Reliable effects for testing session and age group were obtained for explicit memory (verbal recall as well as frequency and recognition ratings), but not for implicit memory. Typicality ratings, also obtained in this picture-clarification task, appeared more related to implicit than explicit memory. For other tasks, children and adults completed word stems (e.g. BR- - -) and provided examples of categories (e.g. animals). The absence of developmental differences for implicit memory contrasted with clear developmental improvement for recall (explicit memory). Other tasks—perceptual classification, and, for younger children, assessments of theories of mind—provided other measures of cognitive development. Measures of perceptual classification were generally unrelated to implicit or explicit memory; for preschoolers with poor explicit memory, naive theories of mind were associated with good implicit memory. Results were discussed primarily in terms of the significance of both implicit and explicit memory for understanding diverse areas of cognitive development.

Author(s):  
Ben R. Newell ◽  
Sally Andrews

Abstract. One interpretation of levels of processing effects (LOP) on priming in implicit tests of memory is in terms of deficits in lexical processing during shallow study tasks. In two experiments the extent of lexical processing engaged in during standard shallow encoding tasks was manipulated by placing the encoding question either before or after the target stimulus. Clear evidence was found in explicit memory tasks that placing the question after the target stimulus increased the depth of processing of words presented in shallow encoding tasks. In contrast, there was no evidence of such an effect on the priming observed in implicit memory tasks. The results suggest that the role of lexical processing in LOP effects on priming requires further specification.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Hicks ◽  
Victoria E. Alexander ◽  
Mark Bahr

How our memory is affected as we age has been given considerable attention over recent decades as we strive to understand the cognitive processes involved. Memory types have been identified as either explicit (declarative - related to episodes or semantics) or implicit (non-declarative – related to procedures, habits, or earlier priming). Studies have identified likely age-related decline in explicit but not implicit memory though there are opposing results suggested from other studies. It is thought cognitive reserve capacities might explain any non-decline as aging individuals use alternative or additional pathways to ‘remember’. This theory might be supported indirectly if older members remember material accurately but take longer to supply answers. In our current study we re-examined whether age-related differences in accuracy and speed of access in memory are present in both implicit and explicit memory processes and we increased the number of experimental age groups (from 2 to 3) - most previous studies have compared just two groups (young, and old). With three groups (young, middle-old, and older aged groups) we can identify trends across the age range towards deterioration or preservation of memory. We examined sixty-six participants (49 females; 17 males) aged 18 to 86 years (M = 50.27, SD = 21.06) from South-Eastern Queensland and divided these into younger (18 to 46 years of age), middle old (50 to 64) and older aged (65+) cohorts. Participants were administered tasks assessing implicit and explicit memory using computer presentations. Consistent with most prior research, no age differences were identified on accuracy in the implicit memory tasks (verbal and non-verbal, including priming), suggesting that memory for implicit material remains preserved. However, on the explicit memory tasks, older adults performed less accurately than the younger adults, indicative of decline in explicit memory as we age. The finding of a decline in explicit memory but no significant decline in implicit memory confirms most earlier research and is consistent with a view of modular decline rather than overall decline in memory with increasing age. In addition, differences found in speed of response in otherwise accurate implicit memory with older respondents significantly slower, suggests possible support for the cognitive reserve hypothesis. 


1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe

AbstractThis study explored the nature of the relationship between attention available at learning and subsequent implicit and explicit memory performance. One hundred neurologically normal subjects rated their liking of target words on a five-point scale. Half of the subjects completed the word-rating task in a full attention condition and the other half performed the task in a divided attention condition. Following administration of the word-rating task, all subjects completed five memory tests, three implicit (category association, tachistoscopic identification, and perceptual clarification) and two explicit (semantic-cued recall and graphemic-cucd recall), each bearing on a different subset of the list of previously presented target words. The results revealed that subjects in the divided attention condition performed significantly more poorly than subjects in the full attention condition on the explicit memory measures. In contrast, there were no significant group differences in performance on the implicit memory measures. These findings suggest that the attention to an episode that is necessary to produce later explicit memory may differ from that necessary to produce unconscious influences. The relationship between implicit memory, neurologic injury, and automatic processes is discussed. (JINS, 1996, 2, 111–125.)


1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 236-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Wood ◽  
Richard R. Bootzin ◽  
John F. Kihlstrom ◽  
Daniel L. Schacter

This study examined implicit memory for words presented during sleep. Ten experimental subjects were presented with word pairs including a homophone and a close associate (e.g., “tortoise-hare”) and with category-instance pairs (e.g., “bird-cardinal”) during REM or Stage 2 sleep and tested immediately afterward. Twelve control subjects underwent the same procedure while awake. Unlike the controls, subjects in the sleeping condition showed no learning effects on the implicit memory tasks. Recall and recognition were observed in a few cases, but only when presentation was immediately followed by arousal.


2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda J. Barnier

Extreme variation in the accessibility of autobiographical memory is a major characteristic of functional amnesia. On the basis of its ability to temporarily disrupt the retrieval of memory material, posthypnotic amnesia (PHA) has been proposed as a laboratory analogue of such amnesia. However, most PHA research has focused on relatively simple, nonpersonal information learned during hypnosis. This experiment extended PHA to autobiographical memory by examining high- and low-hypnotizable subjects' explicit and implicit memory of two autobiographical episodes, one of which was targeted by a PHA suggestion. The effects of PHA were consistent with the major features of functional amnesia: PHA disrupted retrieval of autobiographical information, produced a dissociation between implicit and explicit memory, and was reversible. The nature of PHA's effect on autobiographical memory and the potential utility of a PHA paradigm for investigating functional amnesia are discussed.


2001 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 313-315
Author(s):  
Debora Parente

This study compared the performance of 25 seventh and eighth grade boys and girls on tests of implicit and explicit memory to that of 34 men and women in college. The latter performed significantly better on the explicit memory test. Young adolescents showed a significant priming effect on the implicit memory test; college students did not. Findings suggest a ceiling effect for college students. The results support the distinction between implicit and explicit memory.


2000 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 729-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
John McDowall ◽  
Rachel Moriarty

A study by Brindle, Brown, Brown, Griffith, and Turner (1991), reported that pregnant women showed impaired implicit memory (as measured by a stem completion task) in the presence of intact explicit memory. The present study was an attempt to replicate and extend this finding by employing a read/generate encoding manipulation across data-driven (word fragment completion and graphemic cued recall) and conceptually driven (semantic cued recall and category generation) tests. A total of 64 women (32 pregnant) were tested on both data-driven and conceptually driven tasks either directly or indirectly. No differences emerged between pregnant subjects and non-pregnant controls across tasks. Subjects experiencing their first pregnancy did report their memory in the previous 2 weeks as being considerably worse than normal.


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