Memory for unattended events: Remembering with and without awareness

Abstract

The effects of memory for unattended events-for example, events that occur while a person is asleep, anesthetized, or selectively attending to other ongoing events, as in a speech-shadowing task-are rarely revealed in tests of retention that require remembering to be deliberate or intentional. Might such effects become evident in tests that do not demand awareness of remembering? Results of the present shadowing study, involving the recognition and spelling of previously unattended homophones, suggest an affirmative answer to this question. © 1984 Psychonomic Society, Inc.