VARIETIES OF MEMORY
So far, we’ve been discussing how
memory functions and have given lit-tle attention to what was being remembered—and, to a large extent, this approach
works well: The principles we’ve described apply equally to memory for word
lists in the laboratory, for movies you’ve seen or songs you’ve heard, and for
complex events in your everyday life. At the same time, it’s also possible to distinguish
different types of memory—each with its own operating principles and its own
neural basis. Let’s look at some of the crucial distinctions.
Many psychologists distinguish
memory types in terms of a hierarchy like the one in Figure 8.20. On the left
side of the hierarchy are the various forms of explicitmemory. These are conscious memories—memories that you can
describe if youchoose—and they can usually be triggered by a direct question,
such as “Do you know whether . . . ?” or “Do you recall the time when . . . ?”
In contrast, implicit memories are
remnants of the past that we may not recall at all, but they are
(unconsciously) still with us, and we can detect these memories by the
influence they still have on us. We’ll con-sider some examples of implicit
memories in a moment—but, in general, these memo-ries cannot be revealed by
direct questions; instead, they’re usually revealed by some sort of indirect
test.
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