Long Term and Flashbulb Memories - Essay Example

It has also been noticed that many people try to remember but always tend to forget. They know the information but it remains at the tip of the tongue. This retrieval failure is called Tip Of the Tongue or TOT. Here the information is available but people find it difficult to access. Memories are classified as declarative memory and procedural memory. Declarative memory is static and procedural memory is dynamic. Declarative memory describes what things are in the world for instance how to spell words, remember birthdays etc.; procedural memory describes how to do something in the world for example ride a horse. Declarative memory is further classified into episodic and semantic memories.

The former has a time stamp on memories and the latter has lost its time reference. Flashbulb memories are those, which has significant importance in a person's life that cannot be easily forgotten. People's shared experiences could be examined to study flashbulb memories.

Examples of flashbulb memories were the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Princess Diana's death, the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the Iraq war, a recent terrorist attack, etc. The writer has his share of flashbulb memories. Since childhood, the writer has had a great crush on one of the pop divas in his country. He almost fell in love with her at first sight. Since she was popular it was very difficult to meet her. On her countrywide tour, she came to the writer's city. At the time of the event, the writer managed to skip into her restroom.

At first, she was astonished but when he explained about his crush she let him stay with her the whole day. She was a wonderful lady. It was an unforgettable moment in his life. It seems like it just happened a moment ago. The next was when the writer joined the college to complete the engineering course. The first day of college was enjoyable. Though the seniors ragged him sooner he became their friend. In the first year the seniors gave a fresher party, in the second year we a party to our juniors, in the third year we gave a farewell party to bid adieu to our seniors and in the final year our juniors gave a farewell party. The writer will always remember these moments throughout his life. He still feels as if it happened yesterday. These moments have significant importance in his life.