17 Facts About Long-term memory

Long-term memory is the stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model in which informative knowledge is held indefinitely.

Long-term memory is commonly labelled as explicit memory, as well as episodic memory, semantic memory, autobiographical memory, and implicit memory.

The limit of items that can be held in the short-term Long-term memory is an average between four and seven, yet, with practice and new skills that number can be increased.

However, each time an item in short-term memory is rehearsed, it is strengthened in long-term memory.

Newly acquired declarative memory traces are believed to be reactivated during NonREM sleep to promote their hippocampo-neocortical transfer for long-term storage.

Long-term memory is typically divided up into two major headings: explicit memory and implicit memory.

Explicit Long-term memory refers to all memories that are consciously available.

Episodic Long-term memory refers to Long-term memory for specific events in time, as well as supporting their formation and retrieval.

Some examples of episodic Long-term memory would be remembering someone's name and what happened at your last interaction with each other.

Semantic Long-term memory refers to knowledge about factual information, such as the meaning of words.

Semantic Long-term memory is independent information such as information remembered for a test.

Autobiographical Long-term memory refers to knowledge about events and personal experiences from an individual's own life.

Implicit Long-term memory refers to the use of objects or movements of the body, such as how exactly to use a pencil, drive a car, or ride a bicycle.

In general, more serious problems with Long-term memory occur due to traumatic brain injury or neurodegenerative disease.

The majority of findings on Long-term memory have been the result of studies that lesioned specific brain regions in rats or primates, but some of the most important work has been the result of accidental or inadvertent brain trauma.

The most famous case in recent Long-term memory studies is the case study of HM, who had parts of his hippocampus, parahippocampal cortices, and surrounding tissue removed in an attempt to cure his epilepsy.

Much of the long-term storage of the memory seems to take place in the anterior cingulate cortex.