Memory - Types of LTM Flashcards
1
Q
Types of LTM - Tulving
A
- Tulving (1985) was the first person to realise that the MSM’s view of the LTM was too simplistic and inflexible, and proposed that there are 3 LTM stores containing different types of information
- This is supported by a range of case studies
The three stores of LTM are:
- Episodic memory
- Semantic memory
- Procedural memory
2
Q
What is episodic memory?
A
- This refers to our ability to recall personal life events (episodes).
- It includes memories of when the events occurred, and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved e.g. your most recent visit to the dentist, the last gig you went to etc.
- These are time-stamped (you remember when they happened). They are complex as a memory of a single episode will include several elements e.g. people, places, objects and behaviours that are interwoven to produce a single memory.
- You have to make a conscious effort to recall episodic memories (you are aware that you’re searching for a memory).
3
Q
What is semantic memory?
A
- This long-term memory store contains our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean.
- It has been likened to a combination of an encyclopaedia and dictionary.
- It would include knowledge of things such as applying to university, the taste of an orange and the meaning of words (e.g. our understanding of concepts such as animals, love etc.).
- These memories are not time-stamped (we don’t usually remember when we first learned them).
4
Q
What is procedural memory?
A
- This long-term memory store is for our knowledge of how to do things. It is our memory for learned actions or skills.
- We can recall them without conscious awareness or a great deal of effort e.g. driving a car. We change gear without having to recall how; we indicate without even realising that we have.
- We find it hard to explain these to someone else. If you try to describe how you’re doing something as you’re doing it, the task becomes more difficult.
5
Q
What are the main differences between the three stores?
A
Type of memory:
- E - Memories of life events
- S - Memories of knowledge of the world
- P - Memories of how to do things (motor skills/actions)
How it is expressed:
- E - Can be expressed verbally (recalled with conscious effort) – available for conscious inspection (explicit)
- M - Can be expressed verbally (recalled with conscious effort) – available for conscious inspection (explicit)
- P - Difficult to explain verbally (recall without conscious awareness) – unavailable for conscious inspection (implicit)
Time memory;
- E - Time-stamped – with reference to time and place
- M - Not time-stamped
- P - Not time-stamped
Resistance to amnesia:
- E - May be less resistant to amnesia/forgetting
- M - May be less resistant to amnesia/forgetting
- P - May be more resistant to amnesia/forgetting
The fact that there is evidence that there are three types of long-term memory suggest that they may reside in different areas of the brain
6
Q
The case of Clive Wearing
A
- Suffers from a severe form of amnesia that resulted from a viral infection that attacked his brain, damaging the hippocampus and associated areas
- Before this infection Clive was a world-class musician and he can still play the piano brilliantly and conduct a choir but he can’t remember his musical education
- He can remember some other aspects of his life before his infection, but not others, such as being able to remember children from an earlier marriage, but cannot remember their names
- He recognises his second wife, Deborah, and greets her joyously every time they meet, believing he has not seen her in years, even though she may have just left the room for a few minutes; he has no problem understanding the meaning of words and can carry out a conversation effectively
7
Q
Evaluations of Tulving’s LTM model - Supporting evidence
A
- The case of Clive Wearing and the case of HM
- This supports Tulving’s view because it hows how there are three stores of LTM, giving it high external validity as it shows the different types, as some parts of the LTM were still intact, suggesting different elements to the LTM, which undermines MSM - There is evidence from brain scan studies the different types of memory are stored in different parts of the brain. Tulving et al (1984) got their participants to perform various memory tasks whilst their brains were scanned in the PET scanner. They found that episodic and semantic memories were both recalled from the prefrontal cortex. The left prefrontal cortex was involved in recalling semantic memories. The right prefrontal cortex was involved in recalling episodic memories.
- This supports Tulving because it is externally valid support which suggests different areas of the brain store different types of memory for different tasks, which supports the idea that there are different stores for different types of memory and their associated tasks
8
Q
Evaluations of LTM - Real-world applications
A
- Being able to identify different aspects of LTM allows psychologists to target certain kinds of memory in order to better people’s lives - research has found that episodic memories could be improved in older people who had mild cognitive impairment - the trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory than a control group
- We can apply of knowledge to a range of different situations where it is incredibly useful, suggesting the theory is very generalisable
9
Q
Evaluations of LTM - Weaknesses
A
- Others have disagreed with the division of three LTM stores, and they accept that procedural memories represent one type of LTM, but they argue that episodic and semantic memories are stored together in one LTM store that is known as declarative memories, and procedural memories are non-declarative
- We should get these distinctions right because in order to gain a holistic picture of memory we have to combine subjective ideas to create a fuller memory picture, as Tulving’s ideas only give a partial insight
