Download Types of LTM - Beauchamp Psychology

Declarative Memory: Episodic Memory
‘Knowing that’
We store memories for the things we have thought and the experiences we have had.
These personal recollections of episodes/events in our lives make up episodic memory.
These memories are ‘time-stamped’ in that you can remember when they happened. Your
memory of this episode will involve several features such as the context of the event e.g.
what happened just before/after, where you were, who you were with; and also may
involve associated emotions related to the event.
These memories involve conscious recall of the episode.
Declarative Memory: Semantic Memory
‘Knowing that’
These are memories relating to knowledge about the world, such as facts learnt at school.
Semantic memories may relate to things such as functions of objects, what behaviour is
appropriate (e.g. social customs) but also to abstract ideas such as knowledge of
Mathematical rules.
These memories begin as episodic memories as we acquire knowledge through a personal
experience or event e.g. “the day I found out that…..…”. Over time, the memory tends to
lose its association to the event and becomes just a factual memory.
Procedural Memory
‘Knowing how’
This is our memory for actions or skills. We can recall these memories without conscious
recall or a great deal of effort. This is also therefore known as implicit memory. It is
remembering how to do something rather than remembering the rules of how to do
something which would be semantic knowledge.
As these memories are automatic, we find it difficult to describe them e.g. it’s difficult to
describe to someone how to read, or how to walk.