Long Term Memory

Summary

Coming soon...

Key Points

• Long Term Memory
  • Third and final step of information processing model
    • Occurs after short term and working memory
  • Function
    • Information storage
    • Organized into two types
      • Explicit memory
        • Stores declarative information; can be consciously recalled
        • Semantic memory
          • Meanings of words, facts and concepts
            •  e.g. meaning of “dog”, multiplication, colors
          • Performance is stable with aging
        • Episodic memory
          • Personal experiences and events
            • e.g. buying first car, first day of college
          • Contains flashbulb memories
            • Vivid, detailed snapshot of an emotionally-charged event
              • e.g. where I was when 9/11 happened
          • Performance declines with aging
        • Source memory
          • Stores source of information
            • e.g. who said or reported something
          • Performance declines with aging
      • Implicit memory
        • Stores non-declarative information; cannot be consciously recalled
        • Procedural memory
          • Stores motor skills
            • e.g. how to ride a bike, or tie a shoe
          • Performance is stable with aging
        • Emotional/Reflexive memory
          • Stores associations between stimuli and emotions
            • e.g. smell of hot chocolate triggers nostalgic emotions from childhood winters
        • Priming
          • Stores previous experiences that influence current perception of stimuli
            • e.g. people recognize the word “nurse” more after reading  “doctor” than after reading “bread”
  • Duration
    • Theoretically indefinite (hence: “long term”)
      • Constrained by forgetting (the loss of information from our long term storage)
  • Capacity
    • Unlimited capacity
      • Humans thought to have indefinite capacity to learn new information