Interactive medial brain cross-section showing which structures encode and store explicit and implicit memories

Lose every new fact and you can still learn to ride a bike

Explicit memories are declared in words; implicit memories show up in what you do. The two systems are built in different parts of the brain. Choose a memory and watch which structures light up, then take the hippocampus away and see which memories can still be learned afresh.

Where each memory lives Explicit · episodic
Choose a memory. Watch which structures light. Then remove the hippocampus and check each memory again.
Explicit · hippocampus encodes · neocortex stores
Which memory is being formed?
Predict first: if both hippocampi were removed, which of these memories could still be learned afresh?

Your last birthday — Hippocampus encodes and consolidates the event · Neocortex stores it long term · Amygdala tags the emotion, strengthening encoding

Expressed
In words
Hippocampus to form it
Needed

Explicit memories are the ones you can state: episodic memories of events you lived through and semantic memories of facts about the world. The hippocampus encodes them and consolidates them over time, then hands long-term storage to the neocortex, which is why older memories can survive hippocampal damage while new ones cannot be laid down. The amygdala adds the emotional charge: an episodic memory formed during fear or joy is encoded more strongly. Explicit memory is tested by asking: recall the event, state the fact.

Know This

Explicit memories are encoded by the hippocampus and stored in the neocortex; implicit skills and reflexes are built by the basal ganglia and cerebellum, so they survive when the hippocampus is lost.