explicit memory

long-term memory that can be consciously recalled: general knowledge or information about personal experiences that an individual retrieves in response to a specific need or request to do so. This term, proposed in 1985 by Canadian psychologist Peter Graf and U.S. psychologist Daniel L. Schacter (1952– ), is used interchangeably with declarative memory but typically with a performance-based orientation—that is, a person is aware that he or she possesses certain knowledge and specifically retrieves it to complete a task overtly eliciting that knowledge (e.g., a multiple-choice exam). Compare implicit memory.

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Psychology term of the day

November 16th 2024

Strange Situation

an experimental technique used to assess quality of attachment in infants and young children (up to the age of 2). The procedure subjects the child to increasing amounts of stress induced by a strange setting, the entrance of an unfamiliar person, and two brief separations from the parent. The reaction of the child to each of these situations is used to evaluate the security or insecurity of his or her attachment to the parent. See insecure attachment; secure attachment. [devised in 1978 by Mary D. Salter Ainsworth]