Final answer:
Mental processes that occur outside of conscious awareness are called implicit memories. They influence our behavior and cognition, allowing for automated and efficient information processing, analogous to a background program running without our active awareness.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mental Processes Outside of Conscious Awareness Mental processes that occur outside of conscious awareness but are accessible to consciousness when necessary are called implicit memories. These memories, although learned and stored outside our awareness, affect our behavior without our conscious recall. Implicit memory is often demonstrated through performance in tasks, drawing on stored knowledge or learned skills that we are not actively thinking about. Such mental activities include procedural knowledge like riding a bike, primed responses due to past experiences, and emotional conditioning.Our minds make associative learning, connecting events that occur closely together, often outside of our consciousness. Renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud suggested that only a small portion of our mind, akin to the tip of an iceberg, is conscious, while the vast majority is made up of the unconscious mind.
This unconsciously processed information impacts our cognition—our thinking, problem-solving, and judgement—as well as our emotions and behaviors. In some cases, cognitive demand tasks reveal the influence of implicit memories which cannot easily be articulated but can be observed.In essence, implicit memories and the unconscious mind play a crucial role in how we learn, perceive, and interact with the world around us. They allow for the automated, efficient processing of information that would otherwise overwhelm our conscious thought processes.