University Psychology Assignment: Implicit Processing Analysis

This essay provides an analysis of implicit processing in psychology, a concept referring to unconscious cognitive processes influencing behavior, memory, and performance. It explores how implicit processing explains phenomena in cognitive development and individual differences, contrasting it with explicit processing. The essay discusses examples like implicit fear and procedural memory, highlighting the role of implicit memory in long-term retention. It references studies on implicit cognition, including classical conditioning and the impact of implicit processing on emotional responses and learning. The analysis emphasizes that implicit processing is essential for various daily tasks and skills, stored in the brain from childhood, and essential for generating successful outcomes. The essay concludes that implicit memory, unlike explicit memory, does not require conscious retrieval or rehearsal, demonstrating its importance in remembering long-term aspects.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Analysis of Implicit Processing
Implicit Cognition or Processing refers to the perceptual, comprehension along with
memory as well as performance related processes which occur with the unconscious kind of
awareness. It refers to the unconscious influences such as knowledge or the memory which
influences the behavior of the person, even though they themselves do not have conscious
behavior and awareness whatsoever of those influences (Wiese et al., 2019).
For instance- When a patient is being discharged after the surgery from the hospital, the
effects of the anesthesia can be causing the abnormal kind of behaviors without any kind of
conscious awareness present in it. From the instance, it can be seen that things that people do not
purposely try to remember are being stored in the implicit memory which is unconscious in
nature. It is not being articulated in the verbal manner and they are often procedural in nature and
focused on the step-by-step processes which are required to be performed in order to complete
the task in a successful manner (Naughtin et al., 2017).
Analysis of Implicit Processing Concept helps in Explaining Phenomena from Fields of
Cognitive Development or Individual Differences in Abilities which are Difficult in Terms
of Explicit Processing
As commented by Kana et al. (2016), one idea that can be emerged in the respective
domains include that there are few major levels of the social cognition. At the lower level, there
are relatively inflexible kind of structures and routines which are largely automatic in nature and
implicit in nature and may be occurring without awareness. On the other hand, as opined by (), at
the higher level, there are flexible as well as slow routines which are explicit and it requires
proper expenditure of the mental effort in a successful manner.

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As commented by Dewitte (2016), the two forms of mentalizing which includes explicit
and implicit are relatively independent from one another. For instance- It has been noted that
people at high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum lack implicit mentalizing; however, they
have been successful in acquiring explicit form through proper teaching and experience.
However, from the analysis of the both processing, it can be seen that the entire learning is
mainly driven by implicit processing by which the shock elicits fear and implicit process by
which sight of fearful face elicits fear. In case of Implicit fear, we have no top-down control over
it and the process will be running whether individuals prefer it or not.
As opined by Chiesa et al. (2017), Implicit Memory begins with the proper learning
related skills along with mastering of the tasks that becomes automatic over time with repetition.
It helps in resulting to priming or responding the same way to the similar kind of stimuli. In case
of Implicit Memory or Processing, classical conditioning is one such example which can be
helpful for understanding the importance of the same over explicit processing. For instance-
Pavlov’s dog is the classic example wherein it refers to the experiment wherein the bell was
sounded before the dogs were provided with the meal. Over some time, dogs started to associate
sound of bell with receiving meal. As a result, they used to salivate at sound of the bell.
Unlike implicit processing or memory, there is requirement of proper effort in case of
explicit memory. For instance- When someone asks for the information, in such scenario, that is
the cue to go in the explicit memory and retrieve the information successfully. The brained
development is considered to be the cognitive development which mainly explores the thinking,
exploring along with figuring out the different things which are needed to be implemented in
thinking and managing the approaches (Calderon-Delgado et al., 2020).

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In case of implicit processing, procedural memory includes the different knowledge of
how to perform the different tasks which can be ranging from simple to complex. The examples
include driving car, brushing teeth or speaking to a person with the help of native language.
These are the different aspects which are already stored in the brain from childhood and in an
unconscious manner as well. it helps in increasing accuracy or quickness of the response in a
proper manner for generating successful outcomes in the day to day lives (Calderon-Delgado et
al., 2020). From the analysis of the implicit processing approach, it can be seen and analyzed that
Implicit Memory or Processing is the form of the long-term memory which does not acquirer
requires any conscious kind of retrieval. Implicit Memory is highly essential and important for
the remembrance of the long-term aspects and it does not need any rehearsal as well.

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References
Calderon-Delgado, L., Barrera-Valencia, M., Noriega, I., Al-Khalil, K., Trejos-Castillo, E.,
Mosi, J., ... & O'Boyle, M. W. (2020). Implicit processing of emotional words by
children with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: An fMRI investigation. International
journal of clinical and health psychology, 20(1), 46-53.
Chiesa, P. A., Liuzza, M. T., Macaluso, E., & Aglioti, S. M. (2017). Brain activity induced by
implicit processing of others' pain and pleasure. Human brain mapping, 38(11), 5562-
5576.
Dewitte, M. (2016). Gender differences in implicit processing of sexual stimuli. European
Journal of Personality, 30(2), 107-124.
Kana, R. K., Patriquin, M. A., Black, B. S., Channell, M. M., & Wicker, B. (2016). Altered
medial frontal and superior temporal response to implicit processing of emotions in
autism. Autism Research, 9(1), 55-66.
Naughtin, C. K., Horne, K., Schneider, D., Venini, D., York, A., & Dux, P. E. (2017). Do
implicit and explicit belief processing share neural substrates?. Human brain
mapping, 38(9), 4760-4772.

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Wiese, E., Mandell, A., Shaw, T., & Smith, M. (2019). Implicit mind perception alters vigilance
performance because of cognitive conflict processing. Journal of experimental
psychology: applied, 25(1), 25.