Types of long term memory

• Semantic memory


  Our knowledge about the world, facts and concepts
• Episodic memory


  Our memories for particular events in our lives
• Procedural memory


  An unconscious memory of skills, known as muscle memory
• Declarative memories


  Episodic and semantic memories
• Non-declarative memories

  Procedural memories
• Episodic memories


  • Stored with a reference to time and place
  • Can be recalled consciously
  • Autobiographical
  • Easy to forget
• Semantic memories

  • Not stored with a reference to time and place
  • Can be recalled consciously
  • Not autobiographical
  • More resistant to forgetting
  • Strength affected by depth of processing
• Procedural memories


  • Not stored with a reference to time and place
  • Recalled unconsciously
  • Not autobiographical
  • Very resistant to forgetting
  • Strength affected by amount of practice
• Amnesiac patients with hippocampal damage had significant episodic amnesia but largely unaffected semantic abilities
• Clive Wearing had retrograde amnesia for episodic memories, but retained semantic memories and procedural skills
• Amnesiac patients can improve on procedural skills under experimental conditions, without retaining episodic or semantic memories of the training
• There are reasons to argue that the separation between types of long-term memory may not be as clear-cut, as episodic memories can become semantic over time, and there is a strong connection between procedural and semantic memory