Angel Susantin (Week 3) - Implicit & Explicit Memory
Implicit & Explicit Memory
by Angel Susantin
Recently, I picked up and rode my bike again after not touching it for a whole five years and it had me thinking: how does my body still remember how to ride a bike after all this time? I can recall the tribulations I went through when I first began learning how to keep my balance on a two-wheeled bicycle, but it seemed like my bike-riding abilities have remained constant even until now ever since I initially got the hang of it.
This is a prime example of implicit memory, or non-declarative memories, which are memories that are automatically formed without conscious effort. The subcategory of implicit memory that allows you to remember how to ride a bike after you’ve learned how to do so is called procedural memory, which is where you can remember how to carry out an action without having to actively think. Implicit memories are also the reason why you can hum the tune from a song you’ve recently listened to without much thought. Another subcategory of implicit memory is emotional memory, which is unconsciously remembering the emotions you felt during an experience, which are typically brought about by a memory cue (objects or events that trigger an action or memories of that action).
In that case, what about explicit memories? These memories are your concepts and facts (which is called semantic memory) and events and experiences (episodic memory). Explicit memories are the opposite of implicit memories; explicit memory requires you to make a conscious effort to remember them. Say you’re studying for your upcoming AP exams and you use techniques such as chunking, mnemonics, hierarchies, or even deep processing. The terms you effortfully process become part of your semantic memory! Then a month passes and exams are finally over! The event of taking the AP exam in the Los Cerritos Community Center becomes part of your episodic memory. Recalling an episodic memory gives you the “what,” “where,” and “when” of your personal experience.
Great! Now you can recall the copious amount of information you gathered when studying and relive your exam experience whenever you please!
So perhaps when you’re typing away for your blog comments, you can thank your implicit memory for allowing you to remember how to type. And when you actively attempt to recall what an anaphora is for the AP English exam, you can thank your explicit memory!
Comments
I really love the way you write your blogs. The language and structure of your words is really nice and I wish I could write like you. I find it interesting how we have different types of memory. What dictates what different types of memory different memories are? It would be nice if we could choose which type of memory to store our memories in. Then, we can just implicitly remember everything we need for our AP exams. You said that emotional memory is when people remember the emotions during an experience, which made me wonder if people can associate negative feelings toward something they associate with a pleasant period of time? This is because some of the songs I looped over quarantine used to give me an icky feeling, even though I listened to them during a pleasant time.
Thanks for reminding me the memories that we use everyday and tying it back to what we are currently experiencing as of this moment. It's really nice to discover and discuss all the types of memories we have and use but it's even more satisfying in how the brain sorts them very quickly. This is something I imagine in an Amazon packaging factory where they disperse the shipments based on characteristics. Most memories I think are recalled on spot and you would think that you would sort of forget. Well of course, there is always that pause before trying something that you haven't tried for a long time. It always seems for me like riding a bike, or taking a break from writing during summer and going back again. There are some changes though, as I feel the writing changes a little and for drawing maybe the style changes.
I remember learning about implicit and explicit memory in my psychology class! Honestly, it all made sense when I realized that implicit memory is automatic which explains how we just know how to do certain things. For example, I recently realized that since I learned how to use chopsticks at a young age, I was able to use chopsticks without having to think about my hand position or movement. On the other hand, other people who are not used to learning how to use chopsticks watch me in amazement and struggle to use them. Implicit memory sure is important when it comes to remembering how to perform specific actions throughout our days!
Sincerely,
Faith Tong
Many thanks for the little science/psychology lesson. I always knew that there were different types of learning, but I never really knew about the different types of memory. Either this topic is super underrated, or I'm just living under a rock. But, I find this blog really interesting because I never really thought about how our brain just picks up on things that we learned years ago. It seems very weird to me that our brain can forget how to ride bikes, but this is because it cannot forget, its just carved into our memory now.
Sincerely,
Mrinmayee
I think I should have went through your blog posts right before the AP Psych exams because the way you word things really help refresh my own memories about implicit and explicit memories. I also get that feeling when I begin to automatically remember how to play Mario Kart after over a year of not playing only because I had played enough in the past to remember what the buttons did.
I learned about implicit and explicit memory in my AP psychology class. I thought that your blog was very informative about the subject. When remembering vocabulary and terms, I typically use mnemonics as my go-to method to memorization, because I am able to have fun making the stupidest mnemonics ever. Thank you for making me more aware of this phenomena.