Lesson 7 - Types of Long Term Memory Flashcards
Episodic Memory
Memory for events
Stored in hippocampus
Elements of episodic memory
Specific details of event
Context of event
Emotions at the time of event
Semantic Memory
Memory for facts and general knowledge
Begin as episodic memories and transfers when memory slowly loses its association to particular events and is generalised
Stored in temporal lobe
Elements of Semantic Memory
Functions of an object
What behaviour is appropriate in certain situations
Abstract concepts (maths and language)
Procedural memory
Muscle memory
Concerned with skills and actions
Acquired through practise and repetition
More resistant to forgetting or amnesia
Automated task, unavailable for conscious inspection
If thought about too much, unable to do task
Stored in cerebellum
Evaluation of Long-Term Memory - Clive Wearing
Suffered from viral infection damaging hippocampus
No episodic memory and unable to form new semantic memories
Procedural memory unaffected
Evaluation of Long-Term Memory - Amnesia
Evidence for distinction between episodic/semantic and procedural comes from patients with amnesia
Patients with amnesia are unable to store new episodic or semantic memories but procedural memory stays unaffected
Evaluation of Long-Term Memory - Scientific Evidence
Brain scans support view of different LTMs
When asked to recall different types of information, different areas of brain are active on an fMRI
Episodic - hippocampus
Semantic - temporal
Procedural - cerebellum
Evaluation of Long-Term Memory - Individual Patients
Research into different LTM has been conducted on individual patients
Case studies are highly detailed and provide information but are isolated cases of one individual
Inappropriate to assume that everyone’s LTM is formed in the same way
Findings cannot be generalised to wider population
