Understanding Long-Term Memory Storage Mechanisms

1. How is information stored in long term memory? Declarative knowledge Procedural knowledge -- knowing how to do something-- how to fish the Sacramento river, write a journal article or fix bike -- knowing that something is the case-- facts, theories, events, objects Theproposition is the basic unit of declarative knowledge [proposes relationships among concepts]-- contains 2 elements (a relation & 1 or more arguments)= props are meaningful ideas. Propositions are represented in memory as networks They preserve underlying semantic relations. Procedural Knowledge is represented as productions. Productions are represented as condition-action pairs, and are the basic units of PK. (IF-THEN statements) Productions are combined into related sets calledproduction systems. They are given their relationship by virtue of the fact that they share the same goal structure. DK is also stored as images (analog representations that preserve spatial relationships) They preserve relative distances between elements. Metaphors may be the common imaginal structures we retain between two apparently different concepts. PK can be domain general-- that is , the productions can be applied in >1 domain. (“be prepared” ; reading a novel); weaker of the two PK can be domain specific-- that is, the productions can be applied to specific areas or domains (e.g. Solving a math problem, or reading a journal article; conducting a piece of research). DK is stored as a linear orderings. They preserve order but not distance. Can be seen in event sequences (eg. ordering at McDonalds) Conditional knowledge