LTM Structure: Episodic,

Semantic, and Procedural

memory
B.B. Murdock, Jr. (1962) studied the distinction between STM
and LTM by measuring a function called the serial position
curve.
Dewey Rundus (1971): primacy effect occurs because
participants have more time to rehearse words at the
beginning of the list.
Murray Glanzer and Anita Cunitz (1966) had participants recall the
words after they had counted backwards for 30 seconds right after
hearing the last word of the list. This counting prevented rehearsal and
allowed time for information to be lost from STM
Episodic and Semantic Memory
• Episodic memory (memory for experiences) and semantic
memory (memory for facts) are considered to be two
different types of memory based on:
• Types of experiences/information associated with each memory
• Neurological evidences
LTM distinction based on types of
information remembered
• Episodic memory (memory for experiences) involves mental time
travel; relieving the past memories
• Self-knowing or remembering
• Experience of semantic memory (memory for facts) involves accessing
knowledge about the world; not relieving or travelling back to a
specific event rather accessing the familiar and known facts
• knowing
 Neurological evidences
• Episodic and Semantic memory involves separate neural mechanisms
• Damage to hippocampus and surrounding brain areas leads to impairment
in Episodic aspect of memory but not the semantic aspect
(neuropsychological case of KC and LP)
• KC can no longer relive any of the events of his past. He does, however, know that
certain things happened, which would correspond to semantic memory.
• Despite severe impairment of memory for semantic information, LP was still able to
remember events in her life. She could remember what she had done during the day
and things that had happened weeks or months before
• Different but overlapping areas
gets activated while remembering
the semantic and episodic
memory (Levine et al., 2004)
• FMRI results indicate that
although there can be overlap
between activation caused by
episodic and semantic memories,
there are also major differences
Episodic and semantic memories are
often intertwined
• Interaction between episodic and semantic memory makes up the
Autobiographical memories
• E.g., memory for specific experiences from our life (personal semantic memories)
• Semantic memory often guides/influences episodic memories
• by influencing what we pay attention to and the experiences associated
with the event
• Experiences related to episodic memories can aid in accessing
semantic memories
• When episodic memory is present, semantic memory for “facts” (like a
person’s name) is enhanced when episodic memory is absent, this
advantage created by personally relevant facts vanishes (Westmacott et
al., 2003)
• E.g., People’s ability to remember the names of public figures was found to be
better for names of people who had higher autobiographical significance
(semantic memory involving personal episode)
• E.g., you would be more likely to recall the name of a popular singer
(semantic information) if you had attended one of his or her concerts
(episodic experience) than if you just knew about the singer because he or
she was a famous person
 What Happens to Episodic and
Semantic Memories as Time Passes?
• Episodic memory decreases with time but
not the semantic memory
• Raluca Petrican and coworkers (2010): how
people’s memory for public events changes
over time
• Remember: personal experience associated with
the event or recollected seeing details about the
event on TV or in the newspaper.
• Know: familiar with the event but couldn’t
recollect any personal experience or details related
to media coverage of the event
• Remember responses decreased much more
than know responses Demonstrated both for long-ago
• Semanticization of remote memories (loss of events, as well as for periods as short
episodic details for memories of long-ago events) as 1 week.
Connection between the ability to
remember the past and the ability to
imagine the future
• Similar neural mechanisms are involved in remembering the past
and predicting the future (Addis et al., 2007, 2009; Schacter &
Addis, 2009).
• Evidence for this connection is provided by patients who have
lost their episodic memory as a result of brain damage (patient KC
and DB)
• E.g., DB’s inability to imagine future events was restricted to
things that might happen to him personally; he could still imagine
other future events, such as what might happen in politics or
other current events (Addis et al., 2007; Hassabis et al., 2007; Klein
et al., 2002).
Procedural/Skill memory
• The implicit nature of procedural memory has been
demonstrated in patients like LSJ, a skilled violinist who suffered a
loss of episodic memory due to damage to her hippocampus
caused by encephalitis, but who could still play the violin
(Valtonen et al., 2014).
• Amnesic patients can also master new skills even though they
don’t remember any of the practice that led to this mastery.
• For example, HM, practiced a task called mirror drawing and after a
number of days of practice, HM became quite good at mirror drawing,
but because his ability to form long-term memories was impaired, he
always thought he was practicing mirror drawing for the first time
• Amnesic patients who can’t form new long-term memories but
can still learn new skills
 Effect of memory construction errors
on eye witness testimony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZsckuKiH94

As of 2014, 375 people in the

United States have been
exonerated by DNA testing,
including 21 who served time
on death row