long term memory Flashcards
three stores proposed by Tulving
episodic memory- life events/ experiences
these are time stamped
one single memory will contain many different memory elements
conscious effort made to recall
semantic memory- the meaning of things eg facts
less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting than the episodic
procedural memory- how to do something innate memory eg riding a bike
does not require conscious effort to recall
evaluation (positives)
evidence provided by Clive wearing and HM
episodic memory in both were severely affected due to an operation or an infection.
both their semantic memories relatively unaffected
both procedural memories unaffected- Clive wearing could still sing play and read music
this supports Tulving three stores of ltm model as it demonstrates that there are three stores that are individual and separate from one another.
real world application- understanding ltm helps psychologists to help people with memory problems more efficiently for example memory loss associated with age has now been found to mainly be in semantic memory- recent episodic memories are harder to form whereas past semantic memories remain intact.
belleville study- training semantic memory in older people
participating in a test
evaluation (negatives)
counter point- studying people with brain damage can help researchers understand how the brain should be operating normally however this clinical observation can often lack validity
researcher has no control over what happens to the patient before or after the brain injury without knowing the level of the patients memory before hand it is difficult to determine how much damage has been done as a result of the injury.
conflicting research findings- buckner and peterson reviewed the location of the semantic and episodic memory concluded that semantic is left of prefrontal cortex and episodic on the right. however other research suggests right prefrontal cortex = recall of episodic and left with encoding of episodic.
