Long Term Memory

Although the brain quickly purges most unimportant short term memory, it stores the important ones – those that are emotionally compelling or personally meaningful.

That stored information is long term memory. It is the total of what you know: a compendium of data ranging from name, address, and phone number and the names of friends and relatives to more complex information, such as the sounds and images of events that happened decades ago.

It also includes the routines information you use every day, like how to make coffee, operate your computer and carry out all the intricate behavioral sequences involves in performing your job or running your household.

Your long-term memory and short-term memory are not distinguished merely by how long the memories last.

Another difference is the amount of information the brain can handle. Although the brain can juggle only a relatively small number of short term memories at a time, it can store a virtually unlimited number of long term memories.

Barring disease or injury, you can always learn and retain something new. Furthermore, long term memories are less fragile that short term memories, which means they’re not lost when something interrupts your train of thought.

Previously learned long term memories even tend to remain intact in the early stages of dementia, when patients have trouble learning new information.
Long Term Memory

Encoding stage of memory

There are three different memory stages for the conscious processing of memories.
*A flash of input information though sense – sensory memory
*Some information encoded into short term memory. Short-term memory may come into play by providing a context in which the stimulus is encoded, and it is used again in response maintenance.
*Some information is encoded into long term memory

Any information from outside world to enter memory, it must undergo a process of memory encoding or conversion into a form than be stored in memory. Later retrieve it when it is needed. Encoding refers to initial learning or acquisitions of information.

Encoding is akin to the process by which a computer converts keyed input into bits of information than can be stored in its memory.

Human normal perception of objects and events requires considerable encoding, but further encoding processes can produce memory representations of objects and events that differs from those arising from perceptual processes alone.

Two major brain regions play a role in encoding: the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Numerous studies have indicated that the hippocampal system is activated during encoding of faces, words, scenes or objects.
Encoding stage of memory