Abstract
The role of attention during encoding is important to many current accounts of the implicit/explicit memory distinction. Some accounts suggest that implicit memory tests reflect automatic (non-attentiondemanding) encoding processes, whereas other accounts (such as the transfer-appropriate-processing view) suggest that performance on conceptual implicit tests requires attention during encoding. The present study manipulates attention at encoding over several levels (by varying short-term memory load) and examines the effects on the category-exemplar production task (a conceptual implicit memory test) and its explicit counterpart, category-cued recall. Dividing attention decreased performance on both tests, but in different ways. Mild divisions of attention reduced recall but not conceptual priming. Strong divisions of attention reduced performance on both tests and, in addition, eliminated conceptual priming entirely. These findings resolve apparently conflicting results in the literature and help to clarify the relationship between attention and performance on implicit memory tests.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
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 (3, Pt. 2).
Besson, M., Fischler, I., Boaz, T., &Raney, G. (1992). Effects of automatic associative activation on explicit and implicit memory tests.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,18, 89–105.
Blaxton, T. A. (1989). Investigating dissociations among memory measures: Support for a transfer-appropriate processing framework.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 657–668.
Blaxton, T. A. (1992). Dissociations among memory measures in memory-impaired subjects: Evidence for a processing account of memory.Memory & Cognition,20, 549–562.
Bornstein, R. F., Leone, D. R., &Galley, D. J. (1987). The generalizability of subliminal mere exposure effects: Influences of stimuli perceived without awareness.Journal of Personality & Social Psychology,53, 1070–1079.
Cowan, N. (1995).Attention and memory: An integrated framework. New York: Oxford University Press.
Craik, F. I. M. (1983). On the transfer of information from temporary to permanent memory.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: Series B,302, 341–359.
Craik, F. I. M., &Byrd, M. (1982). Aging and cognitive deficits: The role of attentional resources. In F. I. M. Craik & S. E. Trehub (Eds.),Aging and cognitive processes (pp. 191–211). New York: Plenum.
Craik, F. I. M., Moscovitch, M., &McDowd, J. M. (1994). Contributions of surface and conceptual information to performance on implicit and explicit memory tasks.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,20, 864–875.
Eich, E. (1984). Memory for unattended events: Remembering with and without awareness.Memory & Cognition,12, 105–111.
Engle, R. W., Conway, A. R. A., Tuholski, S. W., &Shisler, R. J. (1995). A resource account of inhibition.Psychological Science,6, 122–125.
Fisk, A. D., &Schneider, W. (1984). Memory as a function of attention, level of processing, and automatization.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,10, 181–197.
Gabrieli, J. D. E., Stone, M. V., Shackleton, K., Thompson-Schill, S. L., Ladd, S. L., Vaidya, C. J., & Chari, A. (1995). Attention and implicit memory for words. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Graf, P., &Mandler, G. (1984). Activation makes words more accessible, but not necessarily more retrievable.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,23, 553–568.
Graf, P., &Masson, M. (1993).Implicit memory. Hillside, NJ: Erlbaum.
Graf, P., Shimamura, A., &Squire, L. (1985). Priming across modalities and priming across category levels: Extending the domain of preserved functions in amnesia.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,11, 386–396.
Hawley, K. J., &Johnston, W. A. (1991). Long-term perceptual memory for briefly exposed words as a function of awareness and attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,17, 807–815.
Hintzman, D. L., &Hartry, A. L. (1990). Item effects in recognition and fragment completion: Contingency relations vary for different subsets of words.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,16, 955–969.
Humphreys, M. S., Bain, J. D., &Pike, R. (1989). Different ways to cue a coherent memory system: A theory for episodic, semantic, and procedural tasks.Psychological Review,96, 208–233.
Isingrini, M., Vazou, F., &Leroy, P. (1995). Dissociation between implicit and explicit memory tests: Effects of age and divided attention on category exemplar generation and cued recall.Memory & Cognition,23, 462–467.
Jacoby, L. L. (1991). A process dissociation framework: Separating automatic from intentional uses of memory.Journal of Memory & Language,30, 513–541.
Jacoby, L. L., &Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,110, 306–340.
Jacoby, L. L., &Hollingshead, A. (1990). Toward a generate/recognize model of performance on direct and indirect tests of memory.Journal of Memory & Language,29, 433–454.
Jacoby, L. L., Toth, J. P., &Yonelinas, A. P. (1993). Separating conscious and unconscious influences of memory: Measuring recollection.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,122, 139–154.
Jacoby, L. L., Woloshyn, V., &Kelley, C. (1989). Becoming famous without being recognized: Unconscious influences of memory produced by divided attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,118, 115–125.
Jelicic, M., Bonke, B., Wolters, G., &Phaf, R. H. (1992). Implicit memory for words presented during anaesthesia.European Journal of Cognitive Psychology,4, 71–80.
Kirk, R. E. (1995).Experimental design (3rd ed.). New York: Brooks/Cole.
Koriat, A., &Feuerstein, N. (1976). The recovery of incidentally acquired information.Acta Psychologica,40, 463–474.
Kunst-Wilson, W. R., &Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Affective discrimination of stimuli that cannot be recognized.Science,207, 557–558.
Light, L. L. (1991). Memory and aging: Four hypotheses in search of data.Annual Review of Psychology,42, 333–376.
Light, L. L., &Albertson, S. A. (1989). Direct and indirect tests of memory for category exemplars in young and older adults.Psychology & Aging,4, 487–492.
Light, L. L., &LaVoie, D. (1993). Direct and indirect measures of memory in old age. In P. Graf & M. E. J. Masson (Eds.),Implicit memory: New directions in cognition, development, and neuropsychology (pp. 207–230). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Logan, G. D. (1979). On the use of a concurrent memory load to measure attention and automaticity.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,5, 189–207.
MacKay, D. G. (1973). Aspects of the theory of comprehension, memory and attention.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,25, 22–40.
Mandler, G., Nakamura, Y., &Van Zandt, B. J. S. (1987). No specific effects of exposure on stimuli that cannot be recognized.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 646–648.
Merikle, P., &Reingold, E. (1991). Comparing direct (explicit) and indirect (implicit) measures to study unconscious memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,17, 224–233.
Morris, C. D., Bransford, J. D., &Franks, J. J. (1977). Levels of processing versus transfer appropriate processing.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,16, 519–533.
Mulligan, N. W., &Hartman, M. (1996). Divided attention and indirect memory tests.Memory & Cognition,24, 453–465.
Parkin, A. J., Reid, T. K., &Russo, R. (1990). On the differential nature of implicit and explicit memory.Memory & Cognition,18, 507–514.
Parkin, A. J., &Russo, R. (1990). Implicit and explicit memory and the automatic/effortful distinction.European Journal of Cognitive Psychology,2, 71–80.
Rappold, V. A., &Hashtroudi, S. (1991). Does organization improve priming?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,17, 103–114.
Roediger, H. L., III, &McDermott, K. B. (1993). Implicit memory in normal human subjects. In F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.),Handbook of neuropsychology (pp. 63–131). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Roediger, H. L., III,Weldon, M. S., &Challis, B. H. (1989). Explaining dissociations between implicit and explicit memory: A processing account. In H. L. Roediger III & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.),Handbook of neuropsychology (pp. 3–14). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Russo, R., &Parkin, A. J. (1993). Age differences in implicit memory: More apparent than real.Memory & Cognition,21, 73–80.
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 501–518.
Schacter, D. L., Bowers, J., &Booker, J. (1989). Intention, awareness, and implicit memory: The retrieval intentionality criterion. In S. Lewandowsky, J. C. Dunn, & K. Kirsner (Eds.),Implicit memory: Theoretical issues (pp. 47–65). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Schwartz, B. L., Rosse, R. B., &Deutsch, S. I. (1993). Limits of the processing view in accounting for dissociations among memory measures in a clinical population.Memory & Cognition,21, 63–72.
Seamon, J., Marsh, R., &Brody, N. (1984). Critical importance of exposure duration for attentive discrimination of stimuli that are not recognized.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,10, 465–469.
Shimamura, A. P. (1986). Priming effects in amnesia: Evidence for a dissociable memory function.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,38A, 619–644.
Shimamura, A. P. (1993). Neuropsychological analysis of implicit memory: History, methodology and theoretical interpretations. In P. Graf & M. E. J. Masson (Eds.),Implicit memory: New directions in cognition, development, and neuropsychology (pp. 265–285). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Smith, M. E., &Oscar-Berman, M. (1990). Repetition priming of words and pseudowords in divided attention and in amnesia.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,16, 1033–1042.
Weldon, M. S., Roediger, H. L., III,Beitel, D. A., &Johnston, T. R. (1995). Perceptual and conceptual processes in implicit and explicit tests with picture fragment and word fragment cues.Journal of Memory & Language,34, 268–285.
Wood, N. L., Stadler, M. A., & Cowan, N. (1995, November). Memory without attention in Eich’s (1984) procedure? Not so fast! Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Los Angeles.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported, in part, by a university research grant from Illinois State University. These results were presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Los Angeles, in November 1995.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mulligan, N.W. Attention and implicit memory tests: The effects of varying attentional load on conceptual priming. Memory & Cognition 25, 11–17 (1997). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197281
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197281