Long-Term Memory

• Long-term memory is the final component of the modal system.
• Information is stored in long-term memory and brought back to short-term memory for immediate use.
• Long-term memory has different divisions.

Non-Declarative Memory

• Non-declarative memory is associated with behavior not requiring conscious thought.
• Procedural memory is concerned with knowing how to do things.
• Priming is an unconscious process where recognition of an item is facilitated by previous exposure to a related item.

Declarative Memory

• Declarative (explicit) memory contains knowledge that can be stated.
• Tulving (1972) subdivided declarative memory into episodic and semantic memory.
• Episodic memory deals with personal experience.
• Semantic memory deals with general knowledge.
• Episodic and semantic memories are not mutually exclusive.
• Klein et al. (1996) studied WJ, who had intact general knowledge but no personal memories due to brain injury.
• Tulving (1985, 2002) reported on NN (or KC), who retained semantic memory but lost episodic memory after a brain injury.

Semantic Dementia

• Semantic dementia is characterized by loss of facts and concepts
• As an example, A.M. a 64 year old, presented with loss of memory for words.
• Their personality remained intact.

Episodic Memory vs. Semantic Memory

• Episodic memory is event-related and involves "I remember."
• Semantic memory is factual and involves "I know."
• Episodic memory is attached to a spatial and temporal context, while semantic memory isn't necessarily.
• Episodic memory requires personal experience, while semantic memory can be personal or general.
• Episodic memory can be learned in a single exposure but weakened by similar events.
• Semantic memory can be learned in a single exposure or strengthened by repetition.
• Both can be communicated flexibly and are consciously accessible.

Amnesia

• Retrograde amnesia involves loss of memories from the past.
• Anterograde amnesia is the loss of the ability to form new memories.

Hippocampus

• The hippocampus is part of the limbic system, associated with learning and memory.
• It encodes new memories, both conscious and unconscious, but doesn't store information.
• The hippocampus becomes activated upon information retrieval.
• The left hippocampus is responsible for verbal memory and the right hippocampus is involved with spatial memory.

Retrograde Amnesia Severity

• Severity is predicted by the amount of damage to the hippocampus and temporal lobe.
• Light damage typically leads to 1-2 years of retrograde amnesia.
• Moderate damage can lead to 10-25 years.
• Extensive damage have seen as much as 40-50 years or complete retrograde amnesia.
• It's almost always accompanied by anterograde amnesia

Autobiographical Memory

• Memory across the lifespan for specific events (episodic) and self-related information (semantic).
• Represents individual lives in memory.
• Conway’s (2005) theory features event-specific memories, general events, and lifetime periods.
• Representation levels create an interacting hierarchical structure.
• Specific events are organized into general events, which are organized into cohesive lifetime periods.

Infantile Amnesia

• People recall few events from infancy and early childhood.
• Infants' goals differ from adults, and they lack a well-developed self-system.
• Lack of memory is likely due to the development of other systems.
• Language, perception, and sense of self are necessary for retrieval cues.
• Memory begins to function more efficiently once appropriate cues are available.

Reminiscence Bump

• Increased recall of events occurs between ages 10 and 30.
• Generally found in adults over 35-40.
• A critical period for self-development.
• First-time events often occur.

Forgetting Benefits

• Access to previously learn information needs to be prioritized so that the most relevant information is retrieved.
• May be adaptive to lose information for some episodes, or to blend information from different episodes together.

Forgetting Example

• Solomon Shereshevsky could remember everything with no limit to his digit span due to severe synaesthesia.
• Translation of the world into images across all senses.
• Difficulty handling abstract concepts.
• Could not maintain employment

Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)

• HSAM individuals exhibit extraordinary memory for everyday autobiographical events over many years.
• Higher memory performance may be from superior functional communication between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus.

Encoding: Levels of Processing

• Craik and Lockhart's levels of processing theory was developed in the early 1970s.
• Meaning-based handling of information leads to better encoding.
• Deeper processing (elaborative or meaningful) leads to better memory.
• Shallow processing (maintenance rehearsal or sensory characteristics) results in less memory.

Craik & Tulving, 1975 Experiment

• Participants were directed to stimuli aspects (deep or shallow), without warning of a later memory test.
• An example test with the word "chip":
• Visual–shallow: Does the word have any capital letters? NO
• Auditory–shallow: Does the word rhyme with skip? YES
• Meaningful: Does it fit in the following sentence: “The boys were only allowed to eat one potato ___ each”? YES

Morris et al. (1977) Study

• Encoding phase had meaning (The _________ had a silver engine. - train) and rhyming (_________ rhymes with pain. - train) conditions.
• Retrieval phase had standard and rhyming recognition tests.

Morris et al. (1977) Study Results

• Standard recognition test accuracy: Meaning 82% vs. Rhyming 62%
• Rhyming recognition test accuracy was also tested.

Retrieval: Transfer-Appropriate Processing

• Deeper processing at encoding does not always result in better retrieval.
• Matching encoding and retrieval tasks results in better retrieval.
• Transfer-appropriate processing (TAP) effect states that memory is best when processing at encoding matches processing at retrieval.
• Deep processing during encoding is best when a test requires deep processing.
• Superficial processing may be preferable when a test involves physical attributes or sounds.

Retrieval: Encoding Specificity Effect

• Current environment information (retrieval cues) trigger memories of past events.
• Success of retrieving a memory depends how close the current context is to original context.
• Encoding specificity effect states that retrieval is more successful if conditions at recall are similar to those at encoding.

Retrieval: Encoding Specificity Research

• Participants encode information under one of two conditions.
• After a retention interval, participants return to the same or opposite condition and attempt to retrieve.
• Recall is better when encoding and retrieval conditions are the same.

Explore long-term memory, the final component of the modal system, including non-declarative and declarative memory. Learn about procedural memory, priming, episodic memory, and semantic memory. Discover the characteristics of each.