Scribd
Upload
66 views

Explicit & Implicit Memory - PSYCHOLOGY

The cognitive approach became the dominant school of psychology in the 1960s and has remained influential since. Our memories allow us to remember both simple and complex things, from where we parked to how to ride a bike, and define us as individuals through our experiences. There are two types of explicit memory - episodic memory of personal experiences and semantic memory of general facts - which can be consciously recalled. Implicit memory refers to knowledge that cannot be consciously accessed but still influences our behavior, including procedural memory of how to perform tasks.

Uploaded by

Esha Sarkar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
66 views

Explicit & Implicit Memory - PSYCHOLOGY

The cognitive approach became the dominant school of psychology in the 1960s and has remained influential since. Our memories allow us to remember both simple and complex things, from where we parked to how to ride a bike, and define us as individuals through our experiences. There are two types of explicit memory - episodic memory of personal experiences and semantic memory of general facts - which can be consciously recalled. Implicit memory refers to knowledge that cannot be consciously accessed but still influences our behavior, including procedural memory of how to perform tasks.

Uploaded by

Esha Sarkar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

The cognitive approach became the most important school of psychology during the 1960s, and

the field of psychology has remained in large part cognitive since that time.
Our memories allow us to do relatively simple things, such as remembering where we parked our
car or the name of the current president of India, but also allow us to form complex memories,
such as how to ride a bicycle or to write a computer program. Moreover, our memories define us
as individuals—they are our experiences, our relationships, our successes, and our failures.
Without our memories, we would not have a life.
At least for some things, our memory is very good (Bahrick, 2000). Once we learn a face, we can
recognize that face many years later. We know the lyrics of many songs by heart, and we can
give definitions for tens of thousands of words.
Our cognitive processes influence the accuracy and inaccuracy of our memories and our
judgments, and they lead us to be vulnerable to the types of errors that eyewitnesses such as
Jennifer Thompson may make. Understanding these potential errors is the first step in learning to
avoid them.
Explicit Memory
When we assess memory by asking a person to consciously remember things, we are
measuring explicit memory. Explicit memory refers to knowledge or experiences that can be
consciously remembered. There are two types of explicit memory: episodic and semantic.
Episodic memory refers to the first hand experiences that we have had (e.g., recollections of
our high school graduation day or of the fantastic dinner we had in New York last year).
Semantic memory refers to our knowledge of facts and concepts about the world

We rely on our recall memory when we take an essay test, because the test requires us to
generate previously remembered information. A multiple-choice test is an example of a
recognition memory test, a measure of explicit memory that involves determining whether
information has been seen or learned before. recall is more difficult than recognition. Recall,
such as required on essay tests, involves two steps: first generating an answer and then
determining whether it seems to be the correct one. Recognition, as on multiple-choice test,
only involves determining which item from a list seems most correct.
A third way of measuring memory is known as relearning (Nelson, 1985). Measures of
relearning (or savings) assess how much more quickly information is processed or learned
when it is studied again after it has already been learned but then forgotten. If you have
taken some French courses in the past, for instance, you might have forgotten most of the
vocabulary you learned. But if you were to work on your French again, you’d learn the
vocabulary much faster the second time around.

Implicit Memory

implicit memory refers to knowledge that we cannot consciously access. However, implicit
memory is nevertheless exceedingly important to us because it has a direct effect on our
behavior. Implicit memory refers to the influence of experience on behavior, even if the
individual is not aware of those influences there are three general types of implicit memory:
procedural memory, classical conditioning effects, and priming.

Procedural memory refers to our often unexplainable knowledge of how to do things. When
we walk from one place to another, speak to another person in English, dial a cell phone, or
play a video game, we are using procedural memory. Procedural memory allows us to
perform complex tasks, even though we may not be able to explain to others how we do
them. There is no way to tell someone how to ride a bicycle; a person has to learn by doing it.
The idea of implicit memory helps explain how infants are able to learn. The ability to crawl,
walk, and talk are procedures, and these skills are easily and efficiently developed while we
are children despite the fact that as adults we have no conscious memory of having learned
them.

You might also like