150 • CHAPTER 6 Long-Term Memory: Structure
in his working memory because it has happened within the last 30 seconds. But every-
thing before that—from his recent memory that 5 minutes ago he was walking to class,
to a memory from 10 years earlier of the elementary school he attended in the third
grade—is part of long-term memory.
Although all of these memories are contained in LTM, recent memories tend to
be more detailed, and much of this detail and often the specifi c memories themselves
fade with the passage of time and as other experiences accumulate. Thus, on October
1, 2010, this person would probably not remember the details of what happened while
walking to class on October 1, 2009, but would remember some of the general experi-
ences from around that time. One of the things that we will be concerned with in this
chapter and the next is why we retain some information and lose other information.
Our goal in this chapter is to introduce long-term memory by fi rst showing how
it can be distinguished from STM/WM in ways that go beyond the basic facts about
duration (LTM = long; STM/WM = very short) and capacity (LTM = very large; STM/WM =
very limited). After contrasting LTM and STM/WM, the rest of the chapter describes
the various types of LTM, which include memories for personal experiences (what you
did last summer), memories for knowledge or facts (the identity of the third president
of the United States), and how to do things (your ability to ride a bike or drive a car).
Our starting point for comparing LTM and STM/WM takes us back to our discus-
sion of STM, in which we noted that most of the research on STM emphasized its storage
function—how much information it can hold and for how long. This led to the proposal of
working memory, with its emphasis on dynamic processes that are needed to explain com-
plex cognitions such as understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions.
A similar situation exists for LTM. Although retaining information about the past
is an important characteristic of LTM, we also need to understand how this informa-
tion is used. We can do this by focusing on the dynamic aspects of how LTM operates,
including how it interacts with working memory to create our ongoing experience.
Consider, for example, what happens when Tony’s friend Cindy says, “Jim and I
saw the new James Bond movie last night” (● Figure 6.2). As Tony’s working memory is
holding the exact wording of that statement in his mind, it is simultaneously accessing● (^) FIGURE 6.2 Tony’s STM, which is dealing with the present, and his LTM, which contains
knowledge relevant to what is happening, work together as Cindy tells him something.
Jim and I saw
the new James
Bond movie.
- Jim is the guy Cindy met
three weeks ago. - James Bond is 007.
- I saw that movie. It had some
good explosions. - Cindy is a big James Bond fan.
- From what I know about
relationships it seems as if
they like each other.
Cindy TonyShe went to
the movie
with Jim.STM LTMLT M
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