FATIGUE OR WARM-UP? HOW THE COGNITIVE LOAD INFLUENCES IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT MEMORY

The cognitive load is believed to cause mental fatigue, moreover recent studies suggest that it could also results in better performance of the following task. The purpose of two presented studies was to examine the cognitive load influence on controlled (C) and automatic (U) influences of memory in word-stem completion task. After memorization of words list participants were asked to complete stems under process dissociation procedure conditions. To examine the time effects of cognitive load participants performed the arithmetic task for 5, 10, 15 or 30 min before word-stem completion task. The results of the experiments indicate that the cognitive load for 10 - 15 min results in more accurate completion in C influence. The results of U influence stays intact in E1, but E2 indicate lower U influence for grups performed the arithmetic task for 10 -15 min.The conclusions about the mental fatigue and warm-up effects on implicit and explicit memory were presented. The results are also analyzed regarding the implicit and explicit memory dissotiation .