Long-Term Memory

• Long Term Memory:

  LTM is the final stage of the multi-store memory model, proposed by AtkinsonShiffrin, providing the lasting retention of information and skills.
• Capacity of the LTM:

  • Theoretically, the capacity of LTM could be unlimited, with the main constraint on recall being accessibility as opposed to availability.
  • It is infinite and arguably immeasurable.
  • Solos (1991) compares it favourably with the largest computers
• Marigold Linton:

  • One way in which psychologists have studied memory is to experiment on themselves.
  • Marigold Linton kept a detailed diary recording daily events and facts about flowers.
  • Each day was replaced by a single word.
  • When given the cue word, she was able to recall it with 70% accuracy all the events and information she had recorded
• Duration of the LTM: Bahrick:

  • Investigated what they called VLTM.
  • Nearly 400 participants aged 17 – 74 were tested on their memory of their school friends.
  • There were various tests including:
  • A free recall test, where participants tried to remember the names of people.
  • A photo recognition test, consisting of 50 pictures.
  • A name recognition test.
• Bahrick: Results: Names and faces:

  • Tested after 15 years - 90% accurate in identifying names and faces.
  • Tested after 48 years – 80% verbal and 70% visual.
• Bahrick: Results: Free Recall:

  • Tested after 15 years, and it was 60% accurate.
  • Tested after 48 years, and it was 30% accurate
• There are 3 different types of LTM:

  • Episodic
  • Semantic
  • Procedural
• Tulving:

  • Tulving recognised that existing models of memory were too simplistic and did not account for the LTM.
  • He proposed the three types of LTM.
• Episodic Memory:

  • Episodic memory refers to any events that can be reported from a person’s life.
  • It is a type of ‘declarative’ memory.
  • It can be explicitly inspective and recalled consciously.
  • They are ‘time-stamped’.
• Types of Episodic Memory:

  • Autobiographical episodic memory.
  • Experimental episodic memory.
  • Flashbulb memories.
• Autobiographical episodic memory:


  Memories of specific episodes of one’s life.
• Experimental episodic memory:

  Where learning a fact has been associated with the memory of the specific life episode when it was learnt.
• Flashbulb memories:

  • Detailed autobiographical episodic memories that are stored permanently in the LTM when they are first learnt.
  • Often because they were of emotional or historical importance in that person’s life.
• Semantic Memory:

  • Semantic memory is also a type of ‘declarative’ memory.
  • Stores information about the world in our LTM.
  • The conscious recall here is of facts that have meaning, as opposed to the recall of past life events.
  • For example, recalling that you listen to music using your ears does not require knowing when or where you first learned this fact. - Knowledge of the meaning of words.
  • General knowledge.
  • Not limited to just knowing what things mean but also includes an understanding of concepts and is constantly growing.
  • These are less personal than episodic memories and are NOT time-stamped.
• Procedural Memory:

  • Describes our implicit knowledge of tasks.
  • These usually do not require conscious recall to perform them.
  • Responsible for knowing how to do things.
  • Memory of our motor skills.
  • Our muscle memory.
  • Implicit/procedural:
  • Does not need our conscious inspection.
  • We don’t have to think about it.
  • Automatic/mechanical.
• Coding:

  • The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores.
  • Semantic, Acoustic, Visual.
  • The process of converting one format to another is called encoding.
  • Memory is often thought of as a process whereby a physical ‘trace’ of information about the past is stored.
  • Encoding acoustically is generally thought to be the dominant method for coding information stored in the STM.
  • Semantic encoding tends to be dominant when storing and retrieving information in LTM.
  • Encoding semantically involves using current knowledge to give meaning to information, for example, knowing that the start of the phone number you are trying to remember is an area code.
• Encoding – Baddeley – STM:

  • In the STM procedure, participants made significantly more mistakes with words that sounded alike.
  • It was concluded that in STM information is encoded by its sound so when we recall information from the STM, similar-sounding words get confused.
• Encoding – Baddeley – LTM:

  • In the LTM procedure, participants were far more likely to confuse words of similar meaning.
  • It was concluded that in the LTM, information is encoded semantically.