Mem: LTM AO3

Question 1

Strength of 3 distinct LTM stores- brain scan evidence

Answer 1

-diff. areas of brain active w/ diff. types of LTM (Tulving et al 1994 asked ppts to do mem. tasks in a PET scanner)
-found semantic + episodic mems. activated in prefrontal cortex- semantic on left, episodic on right
-procedural with cerebellum
-evidence is only correlational, but is scientific evidence
-other researchers (Buckner + Petersen 1996 found semantic in the right, episodic in left- so weakens neurological evidence- little agreement.

Question 2

Strength of the theory- diff. LTM stores seen by case studies of patients with brain damage

Answer 2

-HM- could form new procedural mems. but not episodic/semantic- e.g. improved at a mirror drawing task but didn’t remember it
-task uses procedural mem. but memory of task itself was semantic + episodic
-non-declarative mem. intact, declarative was impaired

Question 3

limitation- researchers believe only 2 LTM stores, not 3- so Tulving’s theory may not be parsimonious, contravening the laws of science.

Answer 3

-Cohen and Squire (1980) agree procedural memories represent 1 LTM type, implicit mems, but disagree with Tulving’s division of LTM- argue that episodic/semantic mems are stored together in one LTM store, explicit memory (consciously recalled)
-important to distinguish between the type of mem, as it can affect how mem studies are carried out
-psychologists need accurate knowledge to help people who suffer from amnesia
-so this contradictory evidence poses a challenge that there are 3 types of LTM.

Question 4

strength- has good real world application, allows psychologists to target specific mems to improve people’s lives

Answer 4

-Belleville et al (2006) showed episodic mems could be improved in older people who had a mild cognitive impairment.
-the ‘trained’ group received episodic memory strategies + performed better on a test than the control group
-episodic is type of mem most effected by mild cognitive impairment, illustrates the benefit of being able to distinguish between types of LTM, specific memories can be targeted in therapy.
-can directly help improve quality of people’s lives with mem problems- a hallmark of the early stages of Alzheimer’s