Long Term Memory Flashcards
What are the two types of long term memory?
Procedural and declarative
What are the two types of declarative memory?
Semantic and episodic
What is the evidence to support the distinction between procedural and declarative memory?
The case study of HM who had his hippocampus removed because of severe epilepsy. Milner discovered that HM was able to learn to trace a shape using its mirror image and retain this skill over a number of days but he had no conscious recollection of ever doing this. He was able to use his procedural memory to learn this skill but his declarative memory to consciously recollect this experience was damaged
What is procedural memory?
A type of implicit memory permitting individuals to perform learned tasks with little conscious thought. For example riding a bike. They are easy to do but difficult to explain in words. They occur early in life. They also involve language, helping individuals to speak automatically and using grammar and sentence order without thinking how to.
Which area of the brain does is the procedural memory?
The neocortex brain areas of the primary motor cortex, cerebellum and prefrontal cortex but it doesn’t need the hippocampus
Who conducted the research into procedural memory?
Finke et al
What did Finke et al do and find?
He reported the case study of PM, a 68 year old professional cellist who suffered damage to various brain areas after contracting encephalitis. His episodic and semantic LTM were very affected. He could not remember musical facts such as names of famous composers, his ability to read and play music was unaffected including learning new complex pieces. This suggests there are different types of LTM
What are two limitations of procedural memory?
There is a lack of research because cases where procedural memory but not explicit memory are affected are rare cases. Procedural memories generally take longer to learn than explicit memory abilities
What is episodic memory?
It is a LTM for the experiences we have had. For example birthdays and a first day at school. They are influenced by emotions present at the time. Episodic memory helps individuals to distinguish between real events and imagination
Which areas of the brain are involved in episodic memory?
The prefrontal brain with the strengthening and storage of memories associated with the neocortex. All of the different events are connected together in the hippocampus
Who researched episodic memory?
Herlitz et al
What did Herlitz et al do and find?
He assessed explicit LTM abilities in 1000 Swedish participants finding that females consistently performed better than males on tasks requiring episodic LTM although there were no differences I’m semantic LTM ability. This suggests there are gender differences in episodic memory ability, which may he explained in part by females generally having higher verbal ability
What is semantic memory?
It consists of our abstract general knowledge of the world including facts, concepts and meaning. It is less personal and more about the facts that we share
What areas of the brain are involved with semantic memory?
Some believe that the hippocampus is born while others believe that there is usage of several brain areas. Coding is mainly associated with the frontal and temporal lobes
Who researched semantic memory?
Vicari et al
