CONSCIOUSNESS AND COGNITION 5, 1 (1996)ARTICLE NO. 0001

INTRODUCTION

Implicit Memory, Part 2

This is the second part of the two-part special issue of this journal on the topicof implicit memory. This part begins with the first complete English translation ofa classic article on the topic, as did the first (Vol. 4, No. 4, December 1995), whichpresented the first complete English translation of Claparede (1911; the 1951 Rapa-port translation of Claparede’s article was not complete). The article translated hereis Korsakoff (1889b), which until now existed in English only in two brief passagesin Schachter (1987). Perhaps the reason for neglect of this article is that it was over-shadowed by a 1955 translation of a related article on the various features of neuritis,one symptom of which is the memory disorder that bears Korsakoff’s name (Korsa-koff, 1989a; Victor & Yakovlev, 1955). While the 1889a article is of interest to thepsychologist, the psychological observations there seem directed to the physician,who must diagnose and treat the medical problems, rather than to the psychologist,who attempts to understand the memory disorder. The 1889b article translated herecontains, in contrast, rich descriptions of aspects of the disorder that are of peripheralimportance in classification but essential to a theoretical account. In further contrast,while the 1889a article attempts a physiological explanation of the neurological as-pects of the disorder, the present article advances an associative theory of it that issurprisingly relevant today. Korsakoff tested for implicit knowledge in anterogradeamnesics 22 years before Claparede stuck his patient with a concealed pin, and heattempted to explain a number of theoretically important properties of the diseasethat are often overlooked even now in theoretical accounts. For Korsakoff’s complete,and penetrating, insights into the memory disorder, we need to look at the articletranslated here.

REFERENCES

Claparede, E. (1911). Recognition et moiıete. Archives de Psychologie, 11, 79–90.

Korsakoff, S. S. (1889a). Psychosis polyneuritica s. cerebropathia psychia toxaemica. (Psychic disorderin conjunction with multiple neuritis) Medizinskioje Obozrenije (Medical Review) 31(13).

Korsakoff, S. S. (1889b). Etude medico-psychologique sur une forme des maladies de la memoire. RevuePhilosophique, 28, 501–530.

Rapaport, D. (Ed.) (1951). Organization and Pathology of Thought: Selected Sources. New York: Colum-bia Univ. Press.

Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology:Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 501–518.

Victor, M., & Yakovlev, P. I. (1955). S. S. Korsakoff’s psychic disorder in conjunction with peripheralneuritis. Neurology, 5, 394–406.

William P. Banks

11053-8100/96 $18.00Copyright 1996 by Academic Press, Inc.All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.