Types of Long Term Memory

• Who researched it?

  Tulving (1985)
• Semantic Memory

  • facts/general knowledge (e.g. London is the capital of England)
  • not 'time-stamped' (we don't remember when we learned it) -> less vulnerable to forgetting
• Procedural Memory

  • practical skills (e.g. learning how to ride a bike)
  • can recall without conscious effort/awareness
• Episodic Memory

  • personal experiences/events
  • these are 'time-stamped' and require conscious effort to remember (prompts/cues)
• Case study: CW


  • severe amnesia after a viral infection
  • forgot his kids names/wedding day/music performances -> damaged episodic memory
  • knows what a piano is and how to eat -> intact semantic memory
  • plays piano perfectly still despite saying he doesn't know how -> intact procedural memory
  • shows LTM has separated stores