Selective effects of interference on implicit and explicit memory for new associations.

Abstract

On standard memory tests, such as recall and recognition, subjects are required to recollect where, when, and under what specific circumstances a target item was acquired; on priming tests, such as word completion and word identification, no reference is made to the specific circumstances accompanying an item's acquisition. We have used the labels explicit and implicit to describe the forms of memory that are indexed by these two types of tests. Recent research has shown performance dissociations between explicit and implicit memory for newly acquired associations. To learn more about the nature of these dissociations, the present study examined the etfects of an AB, AC interference manipulation on explicit and implicit memory for pairs of normatively unrelated words. Interference affected explicit memory, as indexed by performance on cued recall, pair matching, and modified modified free-recall tests, but did not affect implicit memory, as indexed by performance on a word-completion test. This pattern of results complements previous findings of performance dissociations between explicit and implicit memory for new associations. Standard memory tests, such as free recall, cued recall, and recognition, explicitly require subjects to retrieve items that were studied in a specific learning episode. In contrast, priming tests, such as word completion, word identification, and lexical decision, do not require subjects to retrieve items from a specific episode. In view of this difference in requirements, it has been suggested that the retrieval of a recently studied item on a standard memory test, and the retrieval of the same item on a priming test, reflect distinct forms of memory. For descriptive purposes, we have labeled these explicit and implicit memory, respectively (cf. Graf & Schacter, 1985). Explicit memory is revealed by intentional recollection from a specific previous episode, whereas implicit memory is revealed when performance on a task is facilitated without deliberate recollection from a specific learning episode.