Procedural Memory
What is Procedural Memory?
Procedural memory is a type of long-term memory that helps us perform tasks automatically, without thinking. It stores the skills and habits we’ve learned—like riding a bike, typing, or playing an instrument. Once learned, these actions become unconscious, meaning we can do them without needing to intentionally remember every step.
The Basic Idea
On a daily basis, you complete actions without consciously reminding yourself how to do them. Just in your morning routine, there are a number of procedural tasks that involve the use of your motor skills without conscious awareness: you get up and make your bed, walk to your bathroom and hop in the shower, make coffee, cook an omelet (without looking at a recipe), get dressed and tie your shoes, and then ride your bike to work. Now imagine trying to describe to someone how to do these things step by step, or trying to explain when and how you learned them. They’re simple, easy actions that you barely have to think about, that in many cases, would be difficult to put into words.
The reason that you’re able to complete all these actions is thanks to your procedural memory, a type of implicit memory used to perform actions that require motor skills. You start to form procedural memories early in life, when you learn how to walk, talk, and interact with your environment. As you practice the actions, synaptic connections in your brain are strengthened, which means the memory becomes deeply ingrained, allowing you to repeat the skill automatically and unconsciously. You don’t need to think about how to walk before doing it—your brain just knows how and signals your body accordingly.1
Procedural memory is crucial for our day-to-day life as it guides so much of what we do. Being able to complete small actions without conscious thought allows our brain to focus on other, more complex tasks. Imagine if every time you sat down at your computer, you had to remind yourself how to type? You’d never get any work done!
“Procedural memory is knowledge of how to do things. How do you get dressed in the morning? How do you ride a bike? Once learned, procedural memories tend to remain solid as a rock.”
— Rahul Jandial, American neuroscientist, in his book Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon: Practical Strategies for Peak Health and Performance2
About the Author
Emilie Rose Jones
Emilie currently works in Marketing & Communications for a non-profit organization based in Toronto, Ontario. She completed her Masters of English Literature at UBC in 2021, where she focused on Indigenous and Canadian Literature. Emilie has a passion for writing and behavioural psychology and is always looking for opportunities to make knowledge more accessible.
