Our long-term memory – an explanation

In order to be able to use knowledge or skills, it is necessary to access long-term memory. This stores facts, memories and abilities for minutes, years or a lifetime, depending on the type. This article by Animus Medicus, the shop for anatomy images, explains what long-term memory is all about, how it works and what strategies there are to counteract poor long-term memory.

What is long term memory?

Long-term memory is a mechanism in the human brain. He is able to store information and abilities over different lengths of time and make them accessible. The information contained in long-term memory is extremely important for everyday tasks. A weak long-term memory can be brought under control within certain limits through cognitive training.

The construction of long-term memory

Long-term memory is made up of two major areas, “declarative memory” and “non-declarative memory”. Both are presented below:

• declarative memory

Declarative memory is also known as knowledge memory. It is able to store knowledge, data and facts as well as memories of events in such a way that they can be retrieved. The information stored here is explicit and can be reproduced verbatim.

Two parts of declarative memory are semantic and episodic memory. Semantic memory stores specialist knowledge that is true independently of all people. This includes, for example, the fact that the earth is a sphere. Episodic memory, on the other hand, stores facts about personal life. This is how people are able to remember their first kiss.

• Non-declarative memory

Non-declarative memory is also known as behavioral memory. This is where learned courses of action or skills are stored. These enable a person, for example, to ride a bicycle. The information stored here is implicit and cannot be reproduced verbatim.

Non-declarative memory is divided into three areas. Procedural memory contains all human abilities. For example, we are only able to swim thanks to the information stored here.

The second part is priming. Various aspects are linked to individual pieces of information here. What color are clouds? White. What color is snow? White. What is the cow drinking? Milk. Since we have primed our memory on the color white, we think the cow must be drinking something white. But that's not the case, she drinks water.

The third part of non-declarative memory is conditioning. The best-known example of this is Pavlov's dog. Pavlov used to ring a bell whenever he fed his dog. As a result, over time, the dog would salivate even if it only heard the bell without there being anything to eat.

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processes of long-term memory

Various processes take place in long-term memory. The first is learning. This means that information is stored in such a way that it not only remains in short-term memory, but migrates to long-term memory. Only when this is done will we have long-term access to such information.

The second process consists of the sub-areas "remember, retain and link". Humans are now able to retain the information stored in long-term memory over the long term and recall it when needed. In addition, the stored information can be linked in order to derive new information or skills from it. Information that is not used, repeated, consolidated and networked is deleted from long-term memory.

Differences to other areas of memory

There are different memory areas in the human brain, each of which fulfills different tasks and each has its own characteristics and abilities. The three most important are presented in the following table:

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Possible causes of poor long-term memory

Basically, forgetting is not a mistake in the long-term memory in the brain, but a completely normal process. If information is not needed or not needed enough, we forget it. The same applies to skills that we have acquired but do not practice regularly. However, there are various forms of forgetting that indicate poor long-term memory.

There are some people who are unable to store and remember new information. This is called anterograde amnesia. On the other hand, problems with retrieving information stored in long-term memory are called retrograde amnesia. The opposite of this is hypermnesia, where you involuntarily recall things that are stored in long-term memory.

There are many causes that can lead to poor long-term memory. These include, for example, lack of sleep and high stress. Mental stress, such as that caused by the death of loved ones, can also impair long-term memory. But even positive effects such as falling in love occasionally have negative effects on long-term memory. In the case of long-term problems with long-term memory, diseases can also be a cause. These include alcohol and drug addiction, but also Alzheimer's, dementia and Parkinson's.

Conclusion

Poor long-term memory can be due to many different causes. If these are caused by illness, not only the symptoms but also the causes of the illness themselves must be combated. Against other problems, it is possible to provide an improved long-term memory through a slight change in lifestyle. Last but not least, it is advisable to carry out various memory exercises regularly in order to maintain the performance of the long-term memory. It is important to determine the individual causes of poor long-term memory and to take individually tailored measures to counteract it. If you have any questions, you will find many answers in our Help Center or contact us.