ABSTRACT
Cosmologists map the universe, geologists the land, biologists the genome, and psychologists map word knowledge. They map their domains to gain theoretical and practical insights that would not be forthcoming without an atlas to guide their inquiry. The common assumption is that maps are essential. In our research, we assume that experiencing a familiar word implicitly activates related words (e.g., seeing PLANET activates earth, mars, and so on). Understanding how implicit activation affects memory requires a map of links among known words. Implicitly activated memories represent the missing links of remembering because we tend to be unaware of their activation and the effects they have on our ability to remember recent episodes. To date, formal theories of memory do not incorporate such memories into the modeling. This chapter shows how implicitly activated memories affect the recall and recognition of recent episodes and presents a model for explaining such effects.
