2. There is both behavioral and neurological evidence to explain a distinction between STM and LTM. The behavioral evidence consists of the general serial position curve, which shows proportion recall over serial position in the original list of memory items. There’s a functional dissociation between primacy and recency; this means that different variables affect primacy and recency in different ways. Retention interval, for example, is one of these functional dissociations. A 30-second delay after the recall will affect recency, but not primacy. Presentation rate is also a functional dissociation. With slower presentations of the words, primacy and middle recall proportions increase, but recency remains the same. Also, errors show a difference. Typical errors in primacy are semantic (recalling “large” instead of “big”), and this suggests that the words are stored in LTM. Errors in the recency end are typically acoustical (recalling “top” instead of “pop”), which suggests that the words are stored in STM (particularly the phonological loop). Neurological evidence for a STM/LTM distinction comes in the form of amnesic patients. Anterograde amnesiacs cannot form new LT memories, but their short-term memory is fine. Amnesiac K.F. has impaired STM, but her LTM is fine. These are both functional dissociations in each patient, but they combine to form a double dissociation (where there’s one dissociation in one person and the opposite dissociation in the other person). This double dissociation is strong evidence for separate systems. Reviews of the Eastpak Backpack can be found on this site.

3. Explicit memory is, by definition, consciousness with specific reference to the episode in which it was required. It is often referred to as “deliberate memory,” and it is tested through recall and recognition. Implicit memory occurs when previous exposure to information affects behavior, but there doesn’t have to be conscious awareness of that information or the occasion on which there was exposure. An implicit memory test supports that STM and LTM systems are different. Non-impaired subjects are split into two groups that do pleasantness ratings on words. Both groups are then given a fragment completion test, and implicit memory is indicated if the experimental group fills in the blanks with phase 1 words significantly more often than does the control group. Also, dissociations lead to a difference. With varied retention intervals, implicit memory is the same while explicit memory degrades. When information is processed more deeply, explicit memory improves but implict memory is the same. Changing modality also has an effect; it will impair implicit but make no difference in explicit memory. Anterograde amnesiacs also show a difference – they are thought not able to make new LTM, and while explicit memory supports this, implicit tests often provide evidence for new LTMs.