memory - types of long-term memory.

Question 1

What is meant by “episodic memory”?

Answer 1

Ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives time stamped.

Question 2

What is meant by “semantic memory”?

Answer 2

LTM store for our knowledge of the world which shared by everyone, not personal.

Question 3

What is meant by “procedural memory”?

Answer 3

LTM store for our knowledge of how we do things.

Question 4

Who is Endel Tulving (1985)?

Answer 4

A cognitive psychologist.

Question 5

What has Endel Tulving (1985) stated?

Answer 5

• realised the MSM version of the LTM was too simple.
• proposed idea that LTM had 3 stores which contained different types of information.
• includes episodic, semantic and procedural memory.

Question 6

What are the three types of LTM?

Answer 6

• episodic memory.
• semantic memory.
• procedural memory.

Question 7

What type of memory is episodic memory?

Answer 7

Declarative memory explicit.

Question 8

What type of memory is semantic memory?

Answer 8

Declarative memory explicit.

Question 9

What type of memory is procedural memory?

Answer 9

Non-declarative memory explicit.

Question 10

What is episodic memory?

Answer 10

• personal events and memories of when the event occurred, people, objects, places and behaviours involved.
• need to make a conscious effort to retrieve such memories and express these in words.
• autobiographical
  ↳ memories are about you and your experiences.
• strength of memory can be affected by emotions felt at the time
  ↳ strongest recall of memory can be when you felt really happy or sad.

Question 11

What is semantic memory?

Answer 11

• facts, what words mean, etc.
• not always time stamped
  ↳ don’t always recall when we first remembered such facts.
• explicit memory.

Question 12

What is procedural memory?

Answer 12

• can recall these memories without a great deal of conscious effort such as driving a car (implicit).
• sort of skills we may find hard to explain to someone else.

Question 13

What are the strengths of LTM?

Answer 13

• clinical evidence.
• neuroimaging evidence.
• real life application.

Question 14

What is a weakness of LTM?

Answer 14

• problems with clinical evidence.

Question 15

What is the evaluation of LTM - clinical evidence?

Answer 15

POINT - one strength is the supportive clinical evidence.
EVIDENCE - supported by memory case studies such as Patient HM and Clive Wearing. Their episodic memory was severely impaired due to amnesia but heir semantic and procedural memories were unaffected. Patient Hm was unable to recall owning or stroking a dog but did not need an explanation on what a dog was. Both knew how to walk, speak and in the case of Clive, a professional musician, was still able to play the piano, sing and read music.
EXPLANATION - suggests LTM is not a unitary store but constitutes different types like episodic, semantic and procedural.
LINK - supports Tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in the LTM where there is a possibility for one store to be damaged and others to go unaffected.

Question 16

What is the evaluation of LTM - neuroimaging evidence?

Answer 16

POINT - one strength is neuroimaging evidence from brain scan studies.
EVIDENCE - Buckner and Peterson (1996) found episodic and semantic memories were both recalled from the prefrontal cortex which is divided into two, one on each side of the brain. Left prefrontal cortex was involved in recalling semantic memories and episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex.
EXPLANATION - suggests that different areas of the brain are activated when recalling a particular type of memory.
LINK - supports Tulving’s idea of different types of stores for LTM.

Question 17

What is the evaluation of LTM - real life application?

Answer 17

POINT - one strength is that it has enabled psychologists to help people with memory problems.
EVIDENCE - Bellville et al (2006) found that episodic memories could be improved in older people who had a mild cognitive impairment where results found that trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory compared to control group.
EXPLANATION - suggests that identifying the different types of LTM is beneficial as it allows specific treatments to be developed bettering people’s lives as they are able to recall episodes in their own life.
LINK - help improve the quality of life of people with memory disorders.

Question 18

What is the evaluation of LTM - problems with clinical evidence?

Answer 18

POINT - one weakness is the issues associated with clinical evidence.
EVIDENCE - lack of control of all sorts of different variables in clinical studies.
EXPLANATION - involves people who have had brain injuries due to unexpected accidents therefore psychologist has no control over what happened to patient before they experienced the injury. E.g. very little idea of patient’s memory before injury in case of amnesia therefore there is no knowledge on how much worser it got.
LINK - conclusions researchers have reached about memory based on clinical studies may not be internally valid.

Question 19

What is the evaluation point of LTM - clinical evidence?

Answer 19

One strength is the supportive clinical evidence.

Question 20

What is the evaluation evidence of LTM - clinical evidence?

Answer 20

• supported by memory case studies such as Patient HM and Clive Wearing.
  ↳ their episodic memory was severely impaired due to amnesia but heir semantic and procedural memories were unaffected.
• patient Hm was unable to recall owning or stroking a dog but did not need an explanation on what a dog was.
• both knew how to walk, speak and in the case of Clive, a professional musician, was still able to play the piano, sing and read music.

Question 21

What is the evaluation explanation of LTM - clinical evidence?

Answer 21

Suggests LTM is not a unitary store but constitutes different types like episodic, semantic and procedural.

Question 22

What is the evaluation link of LTM - clinical evidence?

Answer 22

Supports Tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in the LTM where there is a possibility for one store to be damaged and others to go unaffected.

Question 23

What is the evaluation point of LTM - neuroimaging evidence?

Answer 23

One strength is neuroimaging evidence from brain scan studies.

Question 24

What is the evaluation evidence of LTM - neuroimaging evidence?

Answer 24

• Buckner and Peterson (1996) found episodic and semantic memories were both recalled from the prefrontal cortex which is divided into two, one on each side of the brain.
• left prefrontal cortex was involved in recalling semantic memories and episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex.

Question 25

What is the evaluation explanation of LTM - neuroimaging evidence?

Answer 25

Suggests that different areas of the brain are activated when recalling a particular type of memory.

Question 26

What is the evaluation link of LTM - neuroimaging evidence?

Answer 26

Supports Tulving’s idea of different types of stores for LTM.

Question 27

What is the evaluation point of LTM - real life application?

Answer 27

One strength is that it has enabled psychologists to help people with memory problems.

Question 28

What is the evaluation evidence of LTM - real life application?

Answer 28

Bellville et al (2006) found that episodic memories could be improved in older people who had a mild cognitive impairment where results found that trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory compared to control group.

Question 29

What is the evaluation explanation of LTM - real life application?

Answer 29

Suggests that identifying the different types of LTM is beneficial as it allows specific treatments to be developed bettering people’s lives as they are able to recall episodes in their own life.

Question 30

What is the evaluation link of LTM - real life application?

Answer 30

Help improve the quality of life of people with memory disorders.

Question 31

What is the evaluation point of LTM - problems with clinical evidence?

Answer 31

One weakness is the issues associated with clinical evidence.

Question 32

What is the evaluation evidence of LTM - problems with clinical evidence?

Answer 32

Lack of control of all sorts of different variables in clinical studies.

Question 33

What is the evaluation explanation of LTM - problems with clinical evidence?

Answer 33

• involves people who have had brain injuries due to unexpected accidents therefore psychologist has no control over what happened to patient before they experienced the injury.
  ↳ e.g. very little idea of patient’s memory before injury in case of amnesia therefore there is no knowledge on how much worser it got.

Question 34

What is the evaluation link of LTM - problems with clinical evidence?

Answer 34

Conclusions researchers have reached about memory based on clinical studies may not be internally valid.