Re: types of longterm memory

Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Wed, 13 Aug 1997 17:38:42 +0200 (MET DST)


On Mon, 11 Aug 1997, Anton Sherwood wrote:

> Thanks to Anders for distinguishing the tree kinds of longterm memory;
> now that I have words for them, I can talk about them.

Yes, this is interesting. Before Schachter (I think it was) made the
distinction everybody just thought there was one kind of LTM,
afterwards it was quite obvious that there were three kinds (there
are interesting neurological data showing that they can be separate).
The power of naming, indeed.

> I feel my semantic memory is much better than my episodic memory.
> (I cannot say about procedural memory, because I cannot easily
> compare it with others'.) Am I unusual? Are these abilities
> correlated?

A good question. I actually don't know, but I guess semantic and
episodic memory are likely correlated (procedural memory is likely
less correlated, I have a very good semantic memory but an awful
procedural memory). Some of the difference may be a difference in
attention, but there might be other factors too. Are there any others
will different memory preferences, like somebody who usually
remembers scenes and experiences but not abstract facts?

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