Improve Your Implicit Memory

There are two types of memory. We use both of these on a daily basis and they dictate the direction of our lives.

By understanding how these types of memory operate, we can learn how to improve in key areas. And if we misunderstand them, we are likely to ignore the great potential they provide to help us get better.

In The Disordered Mind, What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves, author and Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel talks about the works of Larry Squire.

In the book he states, “Squire came to realize that there are two major memory systems in the brain. One is explicit, or declarative, memory, which allows us to consciously remember people, places, and objects. This is what we mean when we refer to ‘memory’ in everyday language. It reflects our conscious ability to remember facts and events.”

He goes on to say, “The second type of memory, the memory that Squire identified, is implicit, or non-declarative, memory, which our brain uses for motor and perceptual skills that we do automatically, like driving a car or using correct grammar. When you speak, you are usually not conscious of using correct grammar – you just speak. What makes implicit memory so mysterious – and the reason we rarely pay attention to it – is that it is largely unconscious. Our performance of a task improves as a result of experience, but we are not aware of it, nor do we have the sense of using memory when we perform the task. In fact, studies show that performance on implicit tasks can actually be impaired when we consciously contemplate the action.”

For anyone looking to improve, this is important. The distinction between the two types of memory highlights the role implicit memory has on performance.

If you are trying to be a better athlete, you need to develop the muscle memory necessary to perform at a high level. This is largely automatic. Yet we need to improve that automatic response over time.

The fact that studies show performance decreased when we ‘consciously contemplate the action’ means that we can’t just focus more. We can’t just try harder. If we want to make a basket in basketball, we can’t force it. We have to let it flow naturally.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t improve our ability to score a basket. Using experience (aka doing it over and over again) we start to develop the automated actions necessary to complete this task at a high level. The more do it, the more we learn to make slight adjustments making it more likely to succeed next time.

I’ve seen many people get burnt out quickly when they want to perform at a high level, and it doesn’t come right away. They try harder. They focus. They assume that this means they will succeed.

When they fail, they assume they don’t have what it takes and move on to something else. But what if they didn’t work on it in the right manner? What if it wasn’t about trying harder? It wasn’t an effort thing. It was a consistency thing.

By consistently tackling the same actions, we can start to build the ‘experience’ that Kandel mentions in his book. If we focus on the steps we take to make sure they are of proper structure, we can gain experience that will translate to implicit memory. Then we can automatically access it when we need it.

Our body already does this. We just need to home in on it and structure our behaviors to get the most out of it.

Take driving. When we learn to drive, we have to think about every movement we make. But over time we don’t. This doesn’t mean we keep improving throughout our lives. We don’t become significantly better drivers. But the movements become more automatic, more engrained, over time.

In other words, we get more locked-in to our way of driving. But experience can help us change. We can start to change our behaviors and do so in a consistent manner. We can build new implicit memories around driving, or anything else for that matter.

We can start to develop habit. We can start to build out routine. We can create the muscle memory to improve. Learning to speak properly won’t happen by simply talking more. But if we continue to apply proper grammar, we will slowly translate that to the automatic manner in which we speak.

The next time you are looking to improve, look to the two types of memory that Larry Squire describes. Then, put your effort into continuously taking the right steps so that experience translates to improvement.