Procedural Learning
PROCEDURAL LEARNING
[Procedural learning or procedural memory refers to retention of motor skills. The distinction between procedural memory and declarative memory is usually framed between knowing how and knowing that, with the first phrase referring to procedural knowledge (knowing how to do something) and the second phrase to declarative knowledge (knowing the nature of events or the world). People know how to ride a bicycle, how to type, or how to find their way by using a map. On the other hand, people know that Rome is the capital of Italy, that the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941, and that Winston Churchill was prime minister of England.
The two entries on procedural learning that follow are devoted to research conducted in two different but overlapping traditions, one with animal models and the other with human subjects. The former is concentrated on research on the neural substrates of several conditioning paradigms used to study learning inA nimals. The work withH umansis concerned with how patients with various types of brain damage learn new skills. Although the experimental traditions are different, the overarching aim of both is to characterize the neural processes underlying procedural learning and memory.]