Definition
Associative thinking is the process of connecting seemingly unrelated concepts together and forming relationships between ideas
The medial temporal lobe is thought to be responsible for associative memory and thinking
Types of Associative Memory
- Implicit memory - An unconscious memory process that relies on priming. Relationships are forged between entities subconsciously when they are presented simultaneously or in quick succession. Implicit association is driven by internal factors such as performance, habituation, and thalamic processing speed. An example would be a song ←> its lyrics ←> the environment in which the song is being heard
- Explicit memory - Explicit association is the conscious connection of entities. This is explainable unlike implicit association. An example would be → Paris ←> France (The former is the capital city of the latter)
- Episodic explicit association - The relationship between “episodes” or events
- Semantic explicit association - The relationship between facts
The Hippocampus stores explicit memories, so it might play an important role in associative thinking along with the medial temporal lobe
Note
Priming is the process of exposing an entity to a person and then making them form an association between this and the next entity being presented
Tools to improve associative memory and thinking
- Network of associations - Spend time with people who can connect the dots well and model their approach
- Ad hoc association - Readily establish connections between random objects, some way or the other. It can be as a song, a rhyme, or a fact, or an indirect connection (connection through a couple of other entities)
- Create a story - If you’re having trouble remembering the associations, make a story containing them. Stories are easier to remember. It’s a form of Elaborative Encoding
- Connected lists - Remember only the beginning of a list. This works when you can associate the beginning to everything else in said list. This may be a method of taking advantage of the serial position effect
The Remote Associates Test is a good test to measure your associative thinking abilities and is a good ground for honing your associate memory
Follow up
- Tulving’s recency hypothesis
- Dual-trace theory of explicit memory