Concepts of Working Memory, Short-term Memory, and Long-term Memory There are two distinct stages of storage: short-term memory and long-term memory. According to Pastorino and Doyle-Portillo (2009), “short-term memory is a system of capacity and duration” (p. 242). Information is held for a few seconds in short-term memory before sending to long-term memory. When we process information in short-term memory, we can move the information to long-term memory (Pastorino & Doyle-Portillo, 2009). Long-term memory is a “system of memory that works to store memories for a long time perhaps even permanently” (Pastorino & Doyle-Portillo, 2009, p. 242).
Long-term memory is composed of several different components: declarative memory, procedural memory, semantic memory, and episodic memory (Feldman, 2009). Declarative memory is memory of factual information. For example, names of people, faces of people, and important dates (e.g. anniversary and birthday). Procedural memory is memory for skills and habits. For example, learning to ride a bike or learning to throw a football. Semantic memory is memory for general knowledge and facts about the world, as well as memory for the rules of logic that are used to deduce other facts. For example, reading a chapter in this course textbook. Episodic memory is memory for events that occur in a particular time, place, or context. For example, arranging a surprise 40th anniversary party for my parents in