Conscious and unconscious memory systems

Abstract

The idea that memory is not a single mental faculty has a long and interesting history but became a topic of experimental and biologic inquiry only in the mid-20th century. It is now clear that there are different kinds of memory, which are supported by different brain systems. One major distinction can be drawn between working memory and long-term memory. Long-term memory can be separated into declarative (explicit) memory and a collection of nondeclarative (implicit) forms of memory that include habits, skills, priming, and simple forms of conditioning. These memory systems depend variously on the hippocampus and related structures in the parahippocampal gyrus, as well as on the amygdala, the striatum, cerebellum, and the neocortex. This work recounts the discovery of declarative and nondeclarative memory and then describes the nature of declarative memory, working memory, nondeclarative memory, and the relationship between memory systems.

Figure 1.

Organization of mammalian long-term memory systems. The figure lists the brain structures thought to be especially important for each form of memory. In addition to its central role in emotional learning, the amygdala is able to modulate the strength of both declarative and nondeclarative memory.

Figure 2.

Schematic view of the medial temporal lobe memory system for declarative memory, which is composed of the hippocampus and the perirhinal, entorhinal, and parahippocampal cortices. In addition to the connections shown here, there are also weak projections from the perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices to the CA1-subiculum border.