IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT MEMORY DO NOT DIFFER IN FLEXIBILITY - COMMENT ON DIENES AND BERRY (1997)

Dienes and Berry (1997) argued that implicit memory representations ar e less flexible than explicit memory representations. In this reply, i t is argued that both types of memory can show flexibility or inflexib ility. It is proposed that principles of transfer that were establishe d for explicit memory apply equally well to implicit memory. Either sh ows inflexibility if the match between processes engaged at encoding a nd retrieval is poor. Data from human amnesic patients, which have els ewhere been discussed as supporting the difference inflexibility betwe en implicit and explicit tasks, are also evaluated, and it is conclude d that these data are, at best, equivocal.