Abstract
Conceptual implicit memory is demonstrated when, in the absence of explicit retrieval, performance on a task requiring conceptual processing benefits more from prior conceptual encoding than from prior nonconceptual encoding. In the present study, we sought to provide an improved measure of conceptual implicit memory by minimizing contamination from explicit retrieval. On a modified word association test, participants free-associated to the actually studied items, with response time to produce any associate serving as the dependent measure. Experiment 1 varied whether words were read or generated at study and showed that generated words were associated to more quickly than were read words. Experiment 2 varied level of processing at study and showed that words processed semantically were associated to more quickly than were words processed nonsemantically. With modifications to ensure its implicit nature, a conceptual implicit test can be consistently affected by the same encoding manipulations as those that affect conceptual explicit memory tests.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Battig, W. F., &Montague, W. E. (1969). Category norms for verbal items in 56 categories: A replication and extension of the Connecticut category norms.Journal of Experimental Psychology Monographs,80, 1–45.
Bentin, S., Moscovitch, M., &Nirhod, O. (1998). Levels of processing and selective attention effects on encoding in memory.Acta Psychologica,98, 311–341.
Butler, L. T., &Berry, D. C. (2001). Implicit memory: Intention and awareness revisited.Trends in Cognitive Sciences,5, 192–197.
Craik, F. I. M., &Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,11, 671–684.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1913).Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology. New York: Columbia University, Teachers College. (Original work published 1885)
Gabrieli, J. D. E., Vaidya, C. J., Stone, M., Francis, W. S., Thompson-Schill, S. L., Fleischman, D. A., et al. (1999). Convergent behavioral and neuropsychological evidence for a distinction between identification and production forms of repetition priming.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,128, 479–498.
Horton, K. D., Wilson, D. E., &Evans, M. (2001). Measuring automatic retrieval.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,27, 958–966.
Horton, K. D., Wilson, D. E., Vonk, J., Kirby, S. L., &Nielsen, T. (2005). Measuring automatic retrieval: A comparison of implicit memory, process dissociation, and speeded response procedures.Acta Psychologica,119, 235–263.
Jacoby, L. L. (1983). Remembering the data: Analyzing interactive processes in reading.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,22, 485–508.
Jacoby, L. L. (1991). A process dissociation framework: Separating automatic from intentional uses of memory.Journal of Memory & Language,30, 513–541.
Light, L. L., Prull, M. W., &Kennison, R. F. (2000). Divided attention, aging, and priming in exemplar generation and category verification.Memory & Cognition,28, 856–872.
MacDonald, P. A., &MacLeod, C. M. (1998). The influence of attention at encoding on direct and indirect remembering.Acta Psychologica,98, 291–310.
MacLeod, C. M., &Masson, M. E. J. (2000). Repetition priming in speeded word reading: Contributions of perceptual and conceptual processing episodes.Journal of Memory & Language,42, 208–228.
Masson, M. E. J., &MacLeod, C. M. (1992). Re-enacting the route to interpretation: Enhanced perceptual identification without prior perception.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,121, 145–176.
Masson, M. E. J., &MacLeod, C. M. (2002). Covert operations: Orthographic recoding as a basis for repetition priming in word identification.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,28, 858–871.
Mulligan, N. W. (2002). The effects of generation on conceptual implicit memory.Journal of Memory & Language,47, 327–342.
Nelson, D. L., &Goodmon, L. B. (2002). Experiencing a word can prime its accessibility and its associative connections to related words.Memory & Cognition,30, 380–398.
Nelson, D. L., McEvoy, C. L., &Dennis, S. (2000). What is free association and what does it measure?Memory & Cognition,28, 887–899.
Roediger, H. L., III (1990). Implicit memory: Retention without remembering.American Psychologist,45, 1043–1056.
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 501–518.
Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (1999). Effects of divided attention on perceptual and conceptual memory tests: An analysis using a process-dissociation approach.Memory & Cognition,27, 512–525.
Seamon, J. G., McKenna, P. A., &Binder, N. (1998). The mere exposure effect is differentially sensitive to different judgment tasks.Consciousness & Cognition,7, 85–102.
Shimamura, A. P. (1986). Priming effects in amnesia: Evidence for a dissociable memory function.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,38A, 619–644.
Slamecka, N. J., &Graf, P. (1978). The generation effect: Delineation of a phenomenon.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning & Memory,4, 592–604.
Vaidya, C. J., Gabrieli, J. D. E., Keane, M. M., Monti, L. A., Gutiérrez-Rivas, H., &Zarella, M. M. (1997). Evidence for multiple mechanisms of conceptual priming on implicit memory tests.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,23, 1324–1343.
Van Selst, M., &Jolicoeur, P. (1994). A solution to the effect of sample size on outlier elimination.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,47A, 631–650.
Zeelenberg, R. (2005, November).Semantic flexibility effects in a speeded conceptual memory task. Poster presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Toronto.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by Discovery Grant A7459 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and formed the basis for the Master’s thesis of the first author.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hourihan, K.L., MacLeod, C.M. Capturing conceptual implicit memory: The time it takes to produce an association. Memory & Cognition 35, 1187–1196 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193592
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193592