L7 - Types Of Long Term Memory

Question 1

Episodic memory

Answer 1

Memory from autobiographical events in life: e.g. first day at school, fam holiday, last bday, breakfast yday
They are time stamped
Storage of emotional content
Subjective experience rather than objective
Stored in hippocampus

Question 2

Semantic memory

Answer 2

Memory for facts, general knowledge, rules of language. E.g.: captial of England london, 2+2=4
Begin as episodic memories, then transition to semantic memory when memory becomes generalised
Stored in temporal lobe

Question 3

Procedural memory

Answer 3

Concerned with motor skills and actions/muscle memory. E.g: tying shoelaces, brushing teeth
Acquired through practice + repetition, more resistant to forgetting
Memories become automatic = unavailable for conscious inspection
Automatic so can focus on other tasks
Stored in cerebellum

Question 4

AO3 Types of LTM

Answer 4

+ evidence for distinction between episodic/semantic and procedural come from research on patients with amnesia. Patients w amnesia have unaffected procedural, but unable to store new episodic/semantic memories
+ scientific evidence - brain scans supports that there is diff types of LTM. Participants asked recall diff types of info, diff areas of brain shown active on an fMRI
- research into diff types of LTM have typically been conducted on individual patients, so cannot assume everyone’s LTM formed same way. Cannot generalise to wider population