Implicit Memory
Tulving - Conscious processes (noetic)
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allows for awareness;
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flexible actions upon events;
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semantic memory;
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effortful or controlled processing (mostly);
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“the object of noetic consciousness is the organism’s knowledge of the
world.”
Autonoetic consciousness is self-knowledge
(necessary for episodic memory or autobiographical
memory); awareness of one’s subjective identity in time
and in the world.
Anoetic consciousness ( not knowing) -
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temporally and spatially bound to the current situation;
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capable of perceptually registering, internally representing, and behaviorally
responding (to “sense and react to external stimulation);
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no reference to nonpresent extraorganismic stimuli and states of the world
(procedural memory)
Implicit memory - the abscence of conscious
recollection; implicit and explicit
memory "are
descriptive concepts that are primarily
concerned
with a person's psychological experience
at the time
of retrieval" (Schacter, 1987, 501).
Do we always
have conscious access to what is encoded
and what
is retrieved?
Jacoby & Dallas (1981) recognition memory
(explicit); word identification (implicit).
WI - S is
presented with a word very rapidly and
tries to
decide what the word is. Ss first given
a list of
words and have to answer questions about
the words
(semantic, rhyming, physical). Ss were
then given a
yes/no recognition memory test.
Findings: explicit memory higher
for semantic condition but type of
orienting task had no effect on implicit
memory. Performance was higher for words
previously seen regardless of orienting
condition.
Implication: ?
Graf, Squire, &
Mandler (1984) presented word
lists to amnesics and non-amnesics,
Ss rated how
much they "liked" each word. Ss were
then given 1
of 4 memory tests: free recall, cued
recall,
recognition or word completion (implicit).
Implicit
memory was assessed by the extent to
which the
word completions corresponded to the
words on the
previously presented list. Findings:
no difference on
the implicit test but differences on
the explicit tests
Theories:
Activation theory (Jacoby) word presentation leads to
automatic activation of its internal representation. This activation may
last for a time (minutes, days, months) facilitating performance on implicit
tasks. Explicit memory is facilitated by active, elaborative or controlled
processing, particularly processing of the word's meaning and its connections
with associated words. Automatic activation occurs regardless of the presence
or absence of elb. proc.
Feeling of knowing
Metcalfe (1987)
gave Ss routine and nonroutine
problems; asked Ss to predict their
ability to solve
the problems; found: for non-routine
problems
predictions were poor
Metcalfe and
Wiebe (1987) asked Ss to solve routine
and non-routine probs., at 15 sec. intervals
Ss were
asked to rate how close they were to
solving the
problems; found: when solving routine
problems, Ss
gave "warm" ratings 15s but not 60s
from solution;
for non-routine probs. Ss gave "cool"
ratings at 15
and at 60s. Solvers do not have an accurate
"feeling
of knowing" when solving insight problems.
Processing Theory (Roediger & Blaxton, 1987)
data driven processes underlie implicit
memory performance and concept-driven processes underlie explicit memory
performance. Data driven processes are those that are directed by external
stimuli and conceptually driven processes are those that are initiated
by the person. They include expectations about the nature of the stimuli
and elaborated processing of the stimuli.
Evidence:
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unconscious repetition priming effects (if shown a stimulus on 2 separate
occasions, usually faster to identify it on the second occasion even
if you don't consciously recall its first occurrence). Amnesics exhibit
repetition priming on implicit tasks.
However
do amnesics have implicit memory for novel information (eg. unrelated word
pairs or non-words). According to the activation theory only words with
preexisting representations can be activated thus novel information should
not receive activation while processing theorists argue that implicit memory
is data driven thus there should be implicit memory for novel information.
Evidence for;
McAndrews, Glisky, & Schacter
(1987) novel and complex sentences were
presented with cues designed to facilitate
understanding. Amnesics had no explicit
memory
for sentences and cues but showed implicit
memory
by generating the appropriate cues when
given the
sentences
Evidence
Against: Schacter & Graf (1986)
amnesics were unable to reveal implicit
memory for
new associations
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