American psychologists from Northwestern University in Chicago studied the mechanisms of human memory, both conscious and unconscious. They concluded that the second type is critical for remembering more information. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Scientists conducted an experiment with a group of 41 students. Participants were introduced to associative triples, each containing an adjective, a picture of an object, and a specific location of that object on the screen. For example, the adjective “scared” corresponded to the image of a banana in the upper right corner of the card.
Next, the researchers provided a variety of stimuli by selecting 76 adjectives and images from nine different semantic categories (e.g., animals, fruits, furniture). This setup was designed to mimic the complex nature of real-world memories, where objects, qualities, and places are linked together in our minds.
First, participants were introduced to all relational blocks and then reactivated by showing only one item from the presented triples. Some adjectives were presented clearly to allow conscious processing, while others were presented too briefly for conscious recognition, activating unconscious processing. The dual approach allowed researchers to examine the effects of conscious and unconscious reactivation on memory consolidation.
Participants were more likely to remember objects associated with adjectives that were explicitly presented to them. This indicates that conscious reactivation strengthens the memory of the association. However, this development led to visible losses in other memories. A phenomenon known as retrieval forgetting, where recalling one memory disrupts the memory of others, has been observed.
It turns out that, in contrast to the competitive nature of conscious reactivation, unconscious reactivation promotes a more collaborative environment in memory. Unconsciously activated memories not only prevented the negative impact on associated memories but also improved memory for associations.
“This study offers a new perspective on why the transfer of new experiences to long-term memory occurs predominantly when our brains are asleep or immersed in fantasy. “The important thing is that unconscious processing of information is actually better than conscious processing,” said co-author Amir Tal.
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