Rugg M D, Mark R E, Walla P, Schloerscheidt A M, Birch C S, Allan K
Wellcome Brain Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, Fife, UK.
Nature. 1998 Apr 9;392(6676):595-8. doi: 10.1038/33396.
One presentation of a word to a subject is enough to change the way in which the word is processed subsequently, even when there is no conscious (explicit) memory of the original presentation. This phenomenon is known as implicit memory. The neural correlates of implicit memory have been studied previously, but they have never been compared with the correlates of explicit memory while holding task conditions constant or while using a procedure that ensured that the neural correlates were not 'contaminated' by explicit memory. Here we use scalp-recorded event-related brain potentials to identify neural activity associated with implicit and explicit memory during the performance of a recognition memory task. Relative to new words, recently studied words produced activity in three neuroanatomically and functionally dissociable neural populations. One of these populations was activated whether or not the word was consciously recognized, and its activity therefore represents a neural correlate of implicit memory. Thus, when task and memory contamination effects are eliminated, the neural correlates of explicit and implicit memory differ qualitatively.
向受试者呈现一个单词一次就足以改变该单词随后被处理的方式，即使对最初的呈现没有有意识（明确）的记忆。这种现象被称为内隐记忆。此前已经对内隐记忆的神经关联进行了研究，但从未在保持任务条件不变或使用确保神经关联不会被外显记忆“污染”的程序的情况下，将其与外显记忆的关联进行比较。在这里，我们使用头皮记录的事件相关脑电位来识别在执行识别记忆任务期间与内隐和外显记忆相关的神经活动。相对于新单词，最近研究过的单词在三个神经解剖学和功能上可分离的神经群体中产生了活动。这些群体中的一个，无论该单词是否被有意识地识别都会被激活，因此其活动代表了内隐记忆的一种神经关联。因此，当任务和记忆污染效应被消除时，外显和内隐记忆的神经关联在性质上是不同的。
