Have you ever tried to come up with a fact you had studied the night before, but it just won’t come to mind? It’s probably one of the most frustrating things that can happened during your college years. You spend hours upon hours memorizing a certain subject, but when the test comes the next morning, your brain goes blank. What is even more frustrating, is when you’re leaving class after failing your test and a random song from 25 years ago runs through your mind and you can remember every single word.

How is this even possible? You spent hours learning every term and structure of the human cell the night before, so why couldn’t you consciously recall that information? To add insult to injury, you walk out of class singing every word of “Regulators” by Nate Dogg and Warren G, even though it’s been years since you last heard the song. What is happening in your brain to make this possible?

The answer is that your brain is filled with different types of memories. Your attempt to retrieve the structures of the cell you were studying the night before is an example of explicit, or conscious memory. The automatic or unconscious retrieval of the lyrics telling the story of how Nate Dogg came to the rescue of his homie who had “some suckas all in his mix” is an example of implicit memory.

Explicit and implicit memories sue two different workflows in the brain. While the amygdala is used in both, explicit memories rely on the hippocampus while implicit memories include more involvement of the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and neocortex (Camina & Güell, 2017). Neither is more important than the other, they are just different. If you’re sat down at a computer keyboard and asked to type, you can do so without looking down at the keys. If you were given a blank keyboard and asked to write down where every letter is placed, you might have a harder time. This is because performing the action of typing involves your implicit memories, or your prior experiences in the act of typing, and recalling where each letter is positioned on a keyboard involves your explicit, or conscious recollection (Harper, 2022).

When you left the failed test and yet were able to easily recall the lyrics to an old song, it’s not because you were stupid or that there is something wrong or incomplete in your brain. This occurred because you had trouble recalling the explicit memories you tried to implant the night before. Recalling the song required little or no effort at all on your part. It was unconscious (Zimmermann, 2014). Implicit memory is not a bug, it’s a feature. Implicit memories allow for our prior experiences to improve our performance of tasks without having to rely on our conscious or deliberate thoughts (Perera, 2023). Implicit memory is automatic, non-effortful, incidental, and fast (Zimmermann, 2014).

So, while it might be frustrating when a song pops in your head instead of the structures of the cell, don’t worry or fret about it. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not doomed to a life of remembering awesome mid-1990’s rap songs. Being able to retrieve those lyrics does not mean that you are incapable of remembering explicit memories. Both processes are distinct, and both are important to our mental performance.

References:

Camina, E., & Güell, F. (2017). The neuroanatomical, neurophysiological and psychological basis of memory: Current models and their origins. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00438

Harper, C. (2022, September 20). What’s the difference between implicit and explicit memory? What’s the Difference Between Implicit and Explicit Memory? Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://mywellbeing.com/therapy-101/implicit-memory-explicit-memory

Perera, A. (2023, February 8). Implicit and explicit memory: Definition & examples. Simply Psychology. Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://simplypsychology.org/implicit-versus-explicit-memory.html#:~:text=The%20impact%20which%20implicit%20memory,explicit%20awareness%20of%20such%20experiences.

Zimmermann, K. A. (2014, February 13). Implicit memory: Definition and examples. LiveScience. Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://www.livescience.com/43353-implicit-memory.html