Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning in which the motivation for a behavior occurs after the behavior is demonstrated. An organism learns to associate a voluntary action with its subsequent consequence, which can be either a reinforcer or a punisher. This consequence then modifies the likelihood of the behavior being repeated in the future.

Operant Conditioning

Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning in which organisms learn to connect events that repeatedly happen together. Through this process, a reflexive response originally elicited by one stimulus can be mapped to a different stimulus by training an association between the two.

Classical Conditioning

Advertisers quickly cancel contracts with famous athletes following a scandal because the athlete is no longer associated with positive feelings. Consequently, the athlete can no longer serve as an unconditioned stimulus to condition the public to associate positive feelings (the unconditioned response) with the advertiser's product (the conditioned stimulus).

Classical Conditioning in Advertising: Athlete Scandals

Associative memory is the unconscious retrieval and storage of information through association with other information. Associative memory can be acquired through two different learning processes: 

- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning

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* Procedural memory
* Associative memory
* Non-associative memory 
* Priming

Types of Implicit Memory

- Camina, E., Güel, F. (2017). The Neuroanatomical, Neurophysiological and Psychological Basis of Memory: Current Models and Their Origins. Front. Pharmacol. 8:438. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00438

- Kreitzer, A. C. (2009). Physiology and pharmacology of striatal neurons. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 32, 127–147. doi: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.051508.135422

- Spielman, R. M, et. al. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax.

- Mackintosh, J. N. (1999). Classical and instrumental conditioning. Encyclopedia Britannica.

- McLeod, S. A. (2018, August 21). Classical conditioning. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html

References for implicit memory

Associative memory

Non-associative memory is learning that occurs when a behavior toward a stimuli changes without the presence of any associated stimulus or event; in contrast to associative memory, no direct connection is made between stimuli and a respective response. There are two important processes of non-associative memory:

- Habituation
- Sensitization

Non-associative memory

Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory that stores information on how to perform skilled actions, such as riding a bicycle or driving a car. These skills are acquired through practice and repetition, gradually transitioning from conscious, deliberate actions to automatic behaviors. Once learned, these procedural memories are difficult to articulate verbally; an individual can perform the skill proficiently but often cannot explain the exact steps involved in the process.

Procedural Memory

Implicit priming is a form of implicit memory where exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus without conscious awareness. This effect occurs because the initial stimulus activates associated concepts within an individual's semantic network, making those related concepts more accessible for later tasks.

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