Some experts consider long-term memory to be any type of memory that lasts longer than 30 seconds.
Unlike short-term memory, long-term memory may have a limitless capacity that can last years or even a lifetime, allowing us to retain a vast amount of information. It contains the information that makes you who you are, from the facts you know to the events of your past to skills you’ve learned.
Long-term memory can be further divided into various subsets.
These include:
- Episodic memory
- Autobiographical memory
- Semantic memory
- Procedural memory
Episodic memory is what most people think of as “memory.”
It refers to memories of personally experienced events from your past, including the details of the event, the context in which it occurred, and the emotions associated with it. Episodic memory involves remembering by mentally re-experiencing events with the awareness of how it all fits into the story of your life.
Events that are more emotionally charged are often more vividly (and more likely to be) remembered.
Episodic memory is an important part of autobiographical memory — the memory of information related to your life as a whole. Autobiographical memories allow you to know who you are, and they include:
- Memories of specific events, such as the time you met your best friend in school
- Memories of more general experiences, such as what middle school was like for you
- Memories of factual details about yourself and your life, such as the middle school you attended, the age you were when you met your best friend, and the activities you did together
Semantic memory is where you store all of your knowledge. It includes the factual information you memorized, such as the definition of words, movies released in your birth year, and the Pythagorean theorem. It also includes information related to other types of memory, such as the individual smells of the state fair you last visited or the feelings you experience while watching your favorite movie. Semantic memories are free of context and do not invoke impressions of past experiences like episodic memories do. For example, because of your semantic memory you can remember the Pythagorean theorem without having to revisit the moment you learned it.
While semantic memory involves the things you know, procedural memory involves the things you know how to do. It is your ingrained and unconscious knowledge about how to do something even if you can’t describe the individual steps, such as how to ride a bike or throw a ball.
It includes the automatic movements you make (muscle or motor memory) as well as nonmotor skills like creating sentences with proper grammar and syntax without much thought.
Read the full article here