Memory: types of LTM Flashcards
who researched types of LTM?
Tulving realised the MSM view on LTM was too simplistic and inflexible. He proposed 3 types of LTM: episodic, semantic and procedural
what’s episodic memory?
a LTM store for personal events. it includes memories of when the events occured and the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously. they’re time-stamped.
what’s semantic memory?
a LTM store for our knowledge of the world. this includes facts and knowledge of words and concepts. these memories need to be recalled consciously. they aren’t time-stamped.
what’s procedural memory?
a LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things. this includes our memories of learned skills. we usually recall these memories without making conscious or deliberate effort.
what’s clinical evidence for types of LTM? (A03)
case studies of HM and Clive Wearing. episodic memories were severly impaired and they had great difficulty recalling events that had happened to them in the past. however their semantic and procedural memories were unaffected. Clive Wearing still knew how to play piano. this evidence supports Tulving’s idea that there are different LTM, even when 1 is damaged, the others work well.
what’s the real-life applications of types of LTM? (A03)
Belleville demonstrated that episodic memories could be improved in older people who had mild cognitive impairment. the trained particpant performed better on test of episodic memories after training than a control group. episodic memory is often affected by mild cognitive impairment.
what’s the neuroimaging evidence for Tulving’s research?
he got particpants to perform various memory tasks while their brains were being scanned with a PET scanner. they found that episodic and semantic memories were both recalled by the prefrontal cortex. the left side was involved in recalling semantic while the right in recalling episodic. this supports the views that there’s a physical reality of different types of LTM. this increases validity.
