Rethinking Implicit Memory

Implicit memory refers to a change in task performance due to an earlier experience that is not consciously remembered. The topic of implicit memory has been studied from two quite different perspectives for the past 20 years. On the one hand, researchers interested in memory have set out to characterize the memory system (or systems) underlying implicit memory, and see how they relate to those underlying other forms of memory. The alternative framework has considered implicit memory as a by-product of perceptual, conceptual, or motor systems that learn. That is, on this view the systems that support implicit memory are heavily constrained by pressures other than memory per se. Both approaches have yielded results that have been valuable in helping us to understand the nature of implicit memory, but studied somewhat in isolation and with little collaboration. This volume is unique in explicitly contrasting these approaches, bringing together world class scientists from both camps in an attempt to forge a new approach to understanding one of the most exciting and important issues in psychology and neuroscience. Written for postgraduate students and researchers in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, this is a book that will have an important influence on the direction that future research in this field takes.

This is the only book that examines the theory and data on the development of implicit and explicit memory. It first describes the characteristics of implicit and explicit memory (including conscious recollection) and tasks used with adults to measure them. Next, it reviews the brain mechanisms thought to underlie implicit and explicit memory and the studies with amnesics that initially prompted the search for different neuroanatomically-based memory systems. Two chapters review the Jacksonian (first in, last out) principle and empirical evidence for the hierarchical appearance and dissolution of two memory systems in animal models (rats, nonhuman primates), children, and normal/amnesic adults. Two chapters examine memory tasks used with human infants and evidence of implicit and explicit memory during early infancy. Three final chapters consider structural and processing accounts of adult memory dissociations, their applicability to infant memory dissociations, and implications of infant data for current concepts of implicit and explicit memory. (Series B)

The immense growth of research on implicit and explicit memory is making it difficult to keep up with new methods and findings, to gauge the implications of new discoveries, and to ferret out new directions in research and theory development. The present volume provides a status report of work on implicit and explicit memory in the three areas that have contributed the bulk of what is known about this domain -- cognitive psychology, lifespan developmental psychology, and neuropsychology. Highlighting developments in methods, critical findings, and theoretical positions, this volume outlines promising new research directions. By so doing, it provides the reader with a multi-disciplinary perspective on implicit and explicit memory, and thereby enables a cross- fertilization of ideas and research. The chapters that make up this volume were written by experts on the topic of implicit and explicit memory. These contributors were asked to write for a broad audience -- for their colleagues from allied disciplines, for new researchers, for advanced undergraduate and graduate students -- to help them gain a comprehensive overview of the mushrooming research on this topic, grasp the most fundamental empirical and theoretical issues, and focus on new research directions.

Metacognition is a term that spans many sub-areas in psychology and means different things to different people. A dominant view has been that metacognition involves the monitoring of performance in order to control cognition; however, it seems reasonable that much of this control runs implicitly (i.e., without awareness). Newer still is the field of implicit memory, and it has different connotations to different sub-groups as well. The editor of this volume takes it to mean that a prior experience affects behavior without the individual's appreciation (ability to report) of this influence. Implicit memory and metacognition seem to be at two opposite ends of the spectrum -- one seemingly conscious and control-oriented, the other occurring without subjects' awareness. Do these processes relate to each other in interesting ways, or do they operate independently without reference to each other? The relatively novel conjecture that much of the control of cognition operates at an implicit level sparked Reder's desire to explore the interrelationship between the two fields. Developed within the last two decades, both fields are very new and generate a great deal of excitement and research interest. Hundreds of articles have been written about metacognition and about implicit memory, but little if any material has been published about the two areas in combination. In other words, Metacognition and Implicit Memory is the first book attempting to integrate what should be closely linked efforts in the study of cognitive science.

The first to focus exclusively on implicit memory research, this book documents the proceedings of a meeting held in Perth, Australia where leading researchers in the field exchanged ideas, data, and predictions about theoretical issues. In addition to reporting new information on a variety of topics, integrating previous findings, and proposing new theoretical approaches to implicit memory, the book also contains critical commentaries by highly regarded area specialists.

Memory Quirks explores the odd phenomena that challenge and upend our traditional understanding of human memory. Theory in memory research was developed to explain basic processes such as encoding and retrieval, recognition and recall, and semantic and episodic memory. However, the peculiar memory phenomena that we all occasionally experience often contradict standard theories of memory processing. Featuring research from leading international academics, Memory Quirks examines such topics as déjà vu, insight and creativity in memory, memory for past meals, the presque vu phenomenon, tip-of-the-tongue states, unconscious plagiarism, and borrowed, stolen, and long-term implicit memory. It also explains why these phenomena are important to understanding the entire spectrum of human memory. This fascinating book will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, cognitive psychology and metamemory researchers, and those who wish to broaden their understanding of the complexities of memory.

The Oxford Handbook of Human Memory provides an authoritative overview of the science of human memory, its application to clinical disorders, and its broader implications for learning and memory in real-world contexts. Organized into two volumes and eleven sections, the Handbook integrates behavioral, neural, and computational evidence with current theories of how we learn and remember. Overall, The Oxford Handbook of Human Memory documents the current state of knowledge in the field and provides a roadmap for the next generation of memory scientists, established peers, and practitioners.

“Re-education” consists in training people injured either by illness or the vagaries of life to achieve the best functionality now possible for them. Strangely, the subject is not taught in the normal educational curricula of the relevant professions. It thus tends to be developed anew with each patient, without recourse to knowledge of what such training, or assistance in such training, might be. New paradigms of re-education are in fact possible today, thanks to advances in cognitive science, and new technologies such as virtual reality and robotics. They lead to the re-thinking of the procedures of physical medicine, as well as of re-education. The first part looks anew at re-education in the context of both international classifications of functionality, handicap and health, and the concept of normality. The second part highlights the function of implicit memory in re-education. And the last part shows the integration of new cognition technologies in the new paradigms of re-education.