When people think of a memory or remember it, what they usually have in mind is conscious recollection. Still, there is another crucial type of memory that governs all our physical and mental skills: this is procedural or ‘how-to’ memory. Most procedural memory is called into action with such little effort or conscious planning that we become blind to our prodigious feats of learning.
In the 1st hour after waking, most people run through an impressive array of procedural memory tasks – from pushing off the duvet and trawling under the bed for slippers to showering and making a cup of tea – all accomplished without conscious thought. As the name suggests, procedural memory is our memory of how to do things. Widely shared examples are standing up and walking. However, it takes only a moment watching a toddler striving to master these skills to recognize them for the sophisticated accomplishments they are, achieved only through many hours of intense concentration and with considerable physical courage. And when we attempt some new physical skill, such as learning to skateboard, ski, or walk a tightrope, we are returned to something akin to a toddler’s state of precarious imbalance.
Acquired skills
For many skills, we can consciously recall the learning process that went into acquiring them. However, more subtle procedural skills, such as communicating in our native language or recognizing a friend on the basis of their way of walking, are harder to appreciate. Skills like these are typically gained with little if any, conscious awareness of what is being learned or how that knowledge is acquired. Normally, we become aware of having these skills only when they fail us in some way or when we make a mistake – for example, when we struggle to understand a speaker with an unfamiliar accent or rush to greet a stranger who bears a striking resemblance to a friend.
Our adeptness at acquiring physical skills, such as using a phone or a word processor, driving a car, or wallpapering a room, depends on building up packages of small steps at becoming refined into smooth continuous action. For example, learning to drive involves memorizing a complex sequence of instructions and maneuvers. The learner driver begins by consciously and diligently checking the mirror, turning on the indicator, releasing the handbrake, letting out the clutch, and controlling the direction of the car. With practice, these are combined into the smooth single action of pulling away from the curb, all executed automatically while looking for a break in the traffic.
Knowing how and knowing that
Procedural memory relates to ‘ knowing how’ and is quite distinct from ‘knowing that, which relates to our memory for events (episodic memory) and facts (semantic memory). Nevertheless, a great deal of our conscious remembering relies on skills stored in procedural memory. For example, small children have great difficulty remembering information deliberately: they have to learn the skills of committing information to memory and searching their memory for the answers they need. Many of the simple memorization strategies that adults use, such as grouping similar items or reciting them in a fixed order, have had to be learned. Young children and uneducated adults do not use these strategies and so tend to do badly on informal memory tests.
Preserved by practice
Procedural memory is one of the most enduring forms of memory and remains intact even when other types are lost. However, initial mastery of skills must be followed by practice and development – processes that occur quite effortlessly with most skills because we make extensive use of them. Just think how many hours you have spent talking and reading since you learned how to do so. Although some skills, such as riding a bike, endure without much practice, others, such as speaking a foreign language, have a ‘ use it or lose it ‘ character and must be kept in regular use to be retained.
Developing skills
Attempting a challenging new balance trick can remind us of the concentration and practice that goes into first learning to walk and balance.
INTERPRETING THE SHAPES
When people look at the picture below for the first time, usually, all they see is a confusion of black and white blobs. It may take several minutes or even longer to arrive at a recognizable image. Try it for yourself.
If you are still struggling to see anything, being told to look for the head and shoulders of a Christ-like figure might help. Once you have managed to see the human figure, you will find that whenever you look at the picture again, that’s what you will see.
Without knowing how you did it, you will have learned the visual procedures for interpreting the picture. This example of perceptual learning is similar to learning to ‘read’ X-ray images or symbols on an air traffic controller’s screen.
