Long term memory essays

Long term memory essays All information that we come across gets stored in our long term memory, either intentionally or not and stays in our long term memory. The reason we do not think or realize we know all of the information is because all the information is not accessible. All the information in our memory is available, but not all the information is accessible. This is different from other theories of long term memory in that it does not support the idea that information leaves the long term memory storage through the processes of decay or interference. Availability is the term used for the amount of information in the long term memory. All information is available and the memory trace exists and is encoded in the long term memory. This means that any information, be it episodic or semantic, once it is stored into the long term memory, will be there forever and can not be lost or decay. Since all information remains in the long term memory and is always available, the question as to why we can not always remember the information that we know we learned at one point remains unanswered. This is where accessibility answers questions. Accessibility refers to the degree to which we can retrieve the information that is stored in our long term memory. If all the information is still in there, it would lend itself to say that all information can be remembered, but all information is not remembered. The reason we can not remember all the information is because it is not all accessible. For whatever reasons, information gets lost in the system. The information may be encoded in such a way that can only be retrieved in certain situations or circumstances or has become weak from lack of use. The important thing in the difference between accessibility and availability is that all information is available even if its not all accessible. Some evidence for this theory is the tip of the tongue state, where you cant r...