Wednesday March 18, 15:10-16:00

Consciousness in Encoding and Retrieval Processes

Nobuo Ohta

(Institute of Psychology, University of Tsukuba, Japan)

How does consciousness in encoding and retrieval processes affect performance on various memory tests? We discuss these effects in terms of the time course of forgetting and propose the NOBU (notions of better unconsciousness) hypothesis.

In several experiments, consciousness in encoding processes was influenced in the directed forgetting paradigm, and implicit and explicit memory were measured after different retention intervals. Also, the role of consciousness was examined in situations of intentional and incidental learning, and measured on various memory tests after different time courses. We obtained dissociations between explicit and implicit memory tests, with interactions between priming effects and retention intervals and so forth. Especially interesting are the interactions, which imply that higher consciousness in encoding processes entail large forgetting rates whereas lower consciousness entail smaller forgetting rates. Also, the priming effect with elaborative encoding of items apparently was smaller than the effect with automatic encoding of items in the longer retention interval conditions. These observations are considered in terms of the contamination of episodic retrieval and transmission of information from consciousness to unconsciousness.

Finally we review empirical support for the NOBU hypothesis and then suggest mechanisms associated with the hypothesis.