Implicit Learning and Innovation

The human brain learns. And it does that in many ways. Cognition, sensing, and memory play a key role in the process. Human memory could, as we stated earlier, be either long-term or short-term, with the long-term memory having an implicit or explicit dimension. The former one is associated with unconscious memory, also known as automatic memory. Implicit long-term memory performs “implicit learning,” a form of learning that occurs without the individual’s awareness as it evolves from continuous exposure to events and stimuli (Curran and Schacter, Implicit Learning and Memory: Psychological and Neural Aspects. in: Smelser, N. J. and Baltes, P. B. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, USA: Pergamon, pp. 7237–7241. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/03513-0 , 2001) and relies on “non-explicit” mechanisms of the brain (Muraskin et al., Brain dynamics of post-task resting state are influenced by expertise: Insights from baseball players. Human Brain Mapping, Vol. 37, No. 12, pp. 4454–4471. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23321 , 2016). Could a similar process emerge in business organizations? Could business organizations develop an ability to learn implicitly and derive creative strategies from this implicit learning? This will be the focus of the following chapter.