Effects of Elaborative Processing on Implicit and Explicit Memory for New Associations

Previous research has demonstrated that priming effects on word-completion tests are influenced by newly acquired associations between normatively unrelated words. This phenomenon, which we call implicit memory for new associations, can occur independently of explicit remembering but requires elaborative processing of study materials. The present experiments explored further the relation between elaborative processing and implicit memory for new associations. Results indicated that implicit memory for new associations, like explicit memory, depended on encoding of meaningful relations between paired words in the study list. However, variations in degree and type of associative elaboration had a large effect on explicit memory, as revealed by performance on letter-cued recall and paired-associate tests, but had little effect on implicit memory, as revealed by performance on a word-completion test. Discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of the observed similarities and differences between implicit and explicit memory for new associations.