long term memory types

• 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
• Procedural memories


  • Not stored with a reference to time and place
  • Recalled unconsciously
  • Not autobiographical
  • Very resistant to forgetting
• Factors affecting memory strength

  • Episodic - level of emotion
  • Semantic - depth of processing
  • Procedural - amount of practice
• Brain regions involved


  • Episodic - prefrontal cortex, hippocampus
  • Semantic - parahippocampal cortices
  • Procedural - motor cortex, cerebellum
• Research by Vergara-Kadim on amnesiac patients with hippocampal damage suggests episodic and semantic memories are separate processes
• Case studies of patients like Clive Wearing show that episodic, semantic and procedural memories can be selectively impaired, supporting them being separate processes
• Nomothetic research using neuroimaging also shows distinctions between types of long-term memory
• Potential arguments against clear separation

  • Episodic and semantic are both declarative
  • Episodic memories can become semantic over time
  • Procedural and semantic are connected through automatic language production