Topic summary

Implicit cognition

Implicit cognition

Cognitive processes outside conscious awareness or control Implicit cognition refers to cognitive processes that occur outside conscious awareness or conscious control. This includes domains such as learning, perception, or memory which may influence a person's behavior without their conscious awareness of those influences. Overview Implicit cognition is everything one does and learns unconsciously or without any awareness that one is doing it. An example of implicit cognition could be when a person first learns to ride a bike: at first they are aware that they are learning the required skills. After having stopped for many years, when the person starts to ride the bike again they do not have to relearn the motor skills required, as their implicit knowledge of the motor skills takes over and they can just start riding the bike as if they had never stopped. In other words, they do not have to think about the actions that they are performing in order to ride the bike. It can be seen from this example that implicit cognition is involved with many of the different mental activities and everyday situations in people's daily lives. There are many processes in which implicit memory works,