Declarative memory

Declarative memory stores facts and figures. It applies to standard textbook learning. It is based on pairing the stimulus and the correct response. For example, the question "What is the capital of Sierra Leone?" and the answer "Freetown". The name declarative comes from the fact that we can explicitly "ask" our brain to make a connection between a pair of simuli. Declarative memory is subject to forgetting and requires repetition to last for years. Declarative memories are best established by using active recall combined with mnemonic techniques and spaced repetition.

Contrast with procedural memory