Long term memory

• Definition⇒ Long-term memory (LTM) stores a potentially unlimited amount of information relatively permanently. There are different types of LTM and they are associated with different kinds of information and memory processes.
• • The 2 main types of LTM are called explicit and implicit memory.
  • They differ in terms of the way information retrieved from memory is expressed.
  • Each of these memory types is associated with distinctive neural mechanisms.
  • They work independently of one another.
• 2 Types of explicit memory:

  1. Episodic memory:

  • Is the LTM of personally significant events (What) associated with a particular time (When) and place (Where)
  • Also known as Autobiographical memory
  • Can include a combination of autobiographical memory and semantic memory
• 2nd type of episodic memory

  • 2. Semantic memory:
  • is the LTM of facts and knowledge about the world
  • Unlike episodic memories, semantic memories are not ‘tagged’ with details of time and place
  • Canadian psychologist Endel Tulving (1993) described episodic and semantic memory are both sub-systems that store different kinds of info but they interact when we form new memories.
• Implicit memory (Non-declarative memory)

  • An LTM that does not require conscious or intentional revival
  • However, remembering usually is effortless
  • It’s called non-declarative because it’s difficult to describe in words, but is easy to demonstrate in actions or behaviours.
• • 2 types of implicit memory are:

  Procedural memory

  Classically conditioned memory
• Procedural memory

  • the LTM for the skills involved in particular tasks
  • it is the memory of ‘how to do something’

  1. These memories are based on practice and include muscle memory
• Classically conditioned memory

  • Conditioned responses to conditioned stimuli acquired through classical conditioning are also considered a type of implicit memory
  • These are all involuntary reflex responses that involve implicit memory.
• Classically conditioned definition⇒ 2 unrelated stimuli became associated/paired and this caused an involuntary/physiological response (E.g. alcohol- hospitals)

  A conditioned response means a learnt response