Procedural memory

• Procedural memory - A long-term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things. This includes our memories of learned skills. We usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort
• Procedural LTM:

  • Concerned with skills
  • Eg: Knowing how to tie a shoelace, knowing how to drive or knowing how to read
  • It is knowing how to do something
• Procedural LTM:

  • Procedural memories are typically acquired through repetition and practice
• Procedural LTM:

  • We can recall these memories without conscious awareness or a great deal of effort
  • Eg: we change gear without having to recall how to, we walk without consciously thinking about putting one foot in front of the other
  • Also find it quite hard to explain to someone else
• Procedural LTM: Brain areas

  • Associated mainly with the neocortex brain areas of primary motor cortex, cerebellum and prefrontal cortex
  • Unlike explicit memory it does not need the hippocampus to function