Final answer:
Implicit memory affects behavior based on prior experiences without conscious recall, encompassing procedural memory, priming, and emotional conditioning.
Step-by-step explanation:
Implicit memory is a type of memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without the individual being consciously aware of the experience. This form of memory can influence behaviors and cognitive tasks, even though the individual cannot consciously recall the information. Examples of implicit memory include procedural memory, like tying shoelaces, priming, where exposure to one stimulus affects the response to another, and emotional conditioning, similar to classical conditioning where a stimulus becomes associated with an emotional response.
Implicit memories are crucial for tasks that have been studied with cognitive demand, like performance on artificial grammars, word memory, and learning contingencies and rules without explicit teaching. For example, we can learn and remember how to ride a bicycle without being able to articulate every detail of the process. This memory is like a computer program that runs in the background without us being aware of it.
Conditioned behaviors, a facet of implicit memory, involve associative learning, such as classical conditioning, where an environmental stimulus triggers an automatic reflex which is then associated with a new stimulus. Operant conditioning, another form of associative learning, involves modifying behavior through its consequences, reinforcing desired behaviors.