ABSTRACT
In this chapter I describe two recent studies which explore the development and nature of implicit memory. The first study demonstrates that implicit memory is functional in children as young as three years, and that implicit memory appears intact prior to the development of effective explicit memory. The second study shows that implicit memory, as measured in a picture completion task, is unaffected by the imposition of a divided attention task during the initial learning phase. These data suggest that one defining feature of implicit memory processes may be that they meet some of the criteria for automaticity as proposed by Hasher and Zacks (1979). Both studies also provide information about the relationship between implicit and explicit memory. In both experiments, subjects' overall performance on the implicit and explicit components of the tasks showed only a low correlation, thus suggesting that the two types of tasks were mediated by different memory systems. However, within-subject analyses revealed that implicit memory measures were greater for items that were recalled or recognized in the accompanying explicit tests. This suggests that the memory systems involved, although different from one another, are nonetheless interactive.
