Non Declarative (Procedural) Memory

Declarative and procedural learning have been considered distinct learning systems, recruiting different brain networks. Procedural learning can be further subdivided into motor and perceptual/cognitive. A variety of tasks have been developed and used to assess specific types of procedural learning. Procedural learning involves different stages including cognitive, associative, and autonomous phases and is subject to off-line processes of consolidation. Dissociations between declarative and procedural memory deficits in patients with amnesic syndromes and neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases together with evidence from brain imaging and animal studies indicated that the medial temporal lobe and basal ganglia mediate declarative and procedural learning, respectively. More recent evidence supports the notion of declarative and procedural learning as interacting rather than independent systems, depending on task demands.