Implicityly Yours - The Five Signs of Implicit Memory

When we talk about memory, we usually mean explicit memory. This type of memory comprises the stories we tell about our lives. For instance, I can tell you about the time I got a kitten or when I wore my Duran Duran t-shirt for picture day (no judgment please). These are stories of things that have happened. They have a beginning and an end. You and I both know they already happened.

Implicit memory, on the other hand, is different. When these memories arise, they feel as if they are happening in the present moment. They don’t have the time stamp of the past like explicit memory. There are five signs of implicit memory:

1) sensory fragment

2) body sensation

3) surge of emotion

4) perceptual shift

5) behavioral impulse

It is possible to not be aware that we are acting from the influence of implicit memory. Sometimes it takes some careful attention to our experience to see the influences. Here are some examples.

1) Sensory fragment - Sometimes when implicit memory arises, people can have a visual flash of something from the past, a brief picture in their mind. Or perhaps they briefly hear a snippet of a song or the sound of a voice.

2) Body sensation - There could be tension or warmth in the body. When I smell blooming jasmine, for example, I feel a warmth and contentment in my chest. It reminds me of sunny afternoon walks from a certain time in my life. Also, I once smelled the instructions for a toy a child had. With the smell of the ink, I felt a wave of enthusiasm and excitement. It took me a moment, but I realized that it smelled like new yearbooks, and I the wave of the excitement of the times in high school when the yearbook came out (this particular example is both a body sensation and a surge of emotion). What’s important to notice is that it feels like it is happening right now. The emotions and body sensations are happening now.

3) Surge of emotion - Have you ever been in one mood and then suddenly you are overwhelmed with emotions that are incongruent? Say, for instance, you are having a smooth parenting day, and then your kid ignores something you have asked. Suddenly you are enraged, 0-100, no small steps. Or you are watching a commercial that touches you in a certain way and you are weeping silently. These can often be implicit streams of emotion that connect back to things in the past. They are feeling like they are related to what is happening in the moment—what your kid has or hasn’t done, what is happening on the commercial.

4) Perceptual shift - Let’s say you are on a date. Everything has been going fine. You like this person. Then the person tries to give you a hug, and suddenly, you hate everything about them. Wrong clothes, wrong haircut, wrong personality. You say to yourself, “What was I thinking?” This shift in perspective can also be coming from implicit memory. Something got activated and then your perspective changed. In Internal Family System, we would think of this new perspective as coming from another “part.” Which it is. It is a part that is living from the perspective of a past implicit memory.

5) Behavioral impulse - I once worked with a child therapist. She had a particular child client who activated something inside of her. When they were in session, the therapist found herself ruminating on what she would like to drink that night. She would imagine the store she would stop at and what she would buy. We were able to track this behavioral impulse to a thread of implicit memory. It was an impulse to protect her from painful feelings from her own early life that working with this client touched. In the present moment, she didn’t actively remember her childhood or know the connection to her past; she just started planning the behavior. These behavioral impulses are often some of the troubling behaviors we wish we didn’t have. The compulsions that arise to protect our tender inner parts.

A sure sign of implicit memory arising is when your response to what is happening in the present moment is disproportionate. When you find yourself in a tidal wave of emotion over something small, that is a sign that implicit is with you. The next step is to be gentle with yourself. If it feels right, you can put a hand on your heart and say, “I am here with you. This is going to be ok.” Feel your feet on the ground. Reach out to a trusted friend.

Implicit memory and the behaviors that stem from it come from the mid-brain—the limbic area—not from the cortex which is the cognitive part of our brain. This region of our brain moves much faster than our thoughts, and often, we don’t even notice what is happening until it is already in full swing. When we have unresolved trauma, these implicit parts can make daily life challenging. It can be particularly confusing when the implicit memories that are hurtful are from before we had explicit memory. Our earliest experiences are all in implicit memory since we don’t begin to regularly encode explicit memory until we are 4 or 5.

As I work with clients and myself, we follow these implicit streams to find their source and bring the comfort that they were lacking in the past. With this comfort and accompaniment, these inner parts can begin to settle, leaving more of ourselves for the present moment.