Conscious and Unconscious Memory

(Also referred to as Episodic and Conceptual Memory, etc)

There are several kinds of memory, and they

involve pathways through different parts of the brain.

Suppose a patient is trying to learn to ride a bike, and

she tries day after day.

If she has damage to the back of her brain,

she may remember endless attempts

to learn to ride, but not show

any improvement after

months of effort.

Her conscious memory remembers her attempts,

but her unconscious memory

does not function.

If, instead, she has damage to the front,

she may have no recollection of

ever having tried to ride the bike

before - not a single episode is

remembered. But she will

show progress, day by day

until she can ride the

bike well.

Her conscious memory is fine, but her

unconscious, motor memory is not.

Have you ever been driving for a while, and realised your mind

had been elsewhere? that you have no recollection of

any actions you took to keep the car headed in the

right direction, signalling, nothing?

It can be scary. You wonder how you got

to where you are now safely.

But no need to worry. Your unconscious

memory had taken over, and

did things fine.

Next time you take a shower, watch what you do. How

much is planned? You will find that most

your actions happen without conscious planning. You

watch them unfold as if it were someone else

giving the orders. You find you are unscrewing the

cap of the shampoo bottle, lathering

here and there without having apparently

decided where your hands should go next. When you dry off,

same thing, you find you running your hands

down your body to scrape off surplus water,

you are drying your hair,

going through complex manipulations of the towel

to orient it over your shoulder, then

over the middle of your back...

Unless you have not showered often

before, your unconscious

memory is in control.

You can watch it with your conscious memory

in control, and remember what you do, but

beyond saying 'time for a shower',

the conscious side is not planning it.

Most of what we do each day is like this.

And just as well - if we had to plan it all consciously,

it would take ten times as long.

But take note of how it feels to not be

in conscious control. Compare it

with the conscious side -

we will come back to this

soon...

If you want to create great art,

or be able to enthral an

audience, be able to create

surprises

you have to know the

difference!