How the different types of long-term memory work
Implicit memory and explicit memory are both types oflong-term memory.
Learn what implicit and explicit memory are and how they work.
What Is Implicit Memory?
Cindy Chung/Verywell
This kind of memory is both unconscious and unintentional.
Riding a bike is another example.
Where Is Implicit Memory Stored in the Brain?
The basal ganglia are important for the coordination of motor activities.
Explicit memory relies on the hippocampus and frontal lobe.
Recap
Implicit memories are unconscious and automatic.
This includes memories of how to perform tasks that you do every day.
What Is Explicit Memory?
These are things that you consciously need to bring into awareness.
Explicit memories are those that are consciously recalled.
This includes memories of events from your life as well as the memory of facts and other learned information.
jot down the following sentence without looking down at your hands: “Every red pepper is tantalizing.”
Now, without looking, try naming the ten letters that appear in the top row of your keyboard.
That task requires implicit memory.
This part of memory is important in the formation of explicit memories.
The research also suggested that stress may actually facilitate the formation of implicit memories for negative emotional information.
In one study, people who wereexperiencing depressed moodswere more likely to show implicit recall of negative information.
However, those who were not depressed were more likely to recall positive information implicitly.
Age
Age can also have an impact on explicit memory.
While explicit memory tends to decline with age, implicit memories tend to be preserved.
Implicit memory and explicit memory both play important roles.
While explicit memory involves the conscious recall of information, implicit memory occurs automatically outside of awareness.
Both types are important for learning and functioning normally in your daily life.
Protecting Implicit and Explicit Memory
Specific strategies and healthy habits can help protect both types of memory.
Both types of memory are important for shaping your ability to function in your environment.
Both also shape your experience of the world.
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