memory - WMM and types of LTM Flashcards
What are the 3 types of LTM?
Episodic, procedural and semantic
What are episodic memories?
Episodic memories are memories that involve conscious recollection of previous experiences together with their context in terms of time, place, associated emotions, etc.
Explicit/declarative
What are semantic memories?
Semantic memories are consciously recalled memories of facts, knowledge, meanings of words.
Explicit/declarative
What are procedural memories?
Procedural memories are unconsciously recalled, action-based memories that describe our memories of ‘learned skills’, such as swimming or driving.
Implicit/non-declarative
Evaluate different types of LTM - case studies
The cases of HM and Clive Wearing show how one type of LTM may be impaired (episodic in their cases), but the other types of LTM will be unaffected (i.e. procedural and semantic).
For example, Clive Wearing was still able to skillfully play the piano and understand the concept of music (procedural and semantic) but was unable to remember his wife visiting him 5 minutes previously
(episodic).
This gives strong support to the idea that different areas of the brain are involved in the different types of LTM, and confirms the classification of different types of LTM as separate.
Evaluate different types of LTM - practical application
There is a practical application in being able to differentiate between different types of LTM.
For example, Belleville et al notes that mild cognitive impairments most commonly affect episodic memories and so an increased understanding of episodic memory, alongside the differences
between different types of LTM, may lead to improved, increasingly targeted treatments for mild cognitive impairments.
Who proposed the distinctions of long term memory types?
Tulving (1972)
PET scans
Found semantic and episodic from prefrontal cortex, but semantic left side and episodic from right side.
Shows physical reality to different types of LTM
Long-term memory experiment - Bahrick
Bahrick et al (1975)
400 participants aged 17-74
Asked to list the names of those they could remember in graduating class (free recall test)
Also had photo recognition test, where participants asked to name as many people in pictures as they could.
15 years since graduation = 90% accurate names to faces
47 years since graduation = 60% accurate names to faces
Concluded people can remember certain types of information e.g. names and faces, for almost a lifetime, so LTM has lifetime duration and is semantically encoded.
Evaluation examples:
- High ecological validity - real life meaningful stimuli.
- Does not control confounding variables - may have rehearsed their memory over the years
Difference between procedural and declarative knowledge
Cohen & Squire (1980) drew distinction.
Procedural = ‘knowing how’ to do things e.g. ride a bike, without conscious thought.
Declarative = ‘knowing that’ e.g. your mum’s birthday, Paris is capital of France. Requires conscious effort.
Evidence for distinction comes from amnesia.
What are the components of the working memory model?
- Central Executive
- Phonological Loop (Phonological store and Articulatory process)
- Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad (Visual cache and Inner scribe)
- Episodic buffer
Who developed the working memory model?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
What is the working memory model?
A model of short term memory.
What is the central executive in the WMM?
The central executive is responsible for monitoring and coordinating the operation of the slave systems.
What is the phonological loop in the WMM?
The phonological loop is a temporary store for auditory information.
It is comprised of a ‘phonological store‘ (inner ear) that temporarily holds verbal information, and an ‘articulatory loop’ (inner voice) that rehearses words to keep them in working memory when needed.
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad in WMM?
The visuo-spatial sketchpad is responsible for dealing with visual and spatial information. It temporarily stores information on how things look, and allows us to manipulate images in our mind e.g. mentally rotating a shape.
It is comprised of a ‘visual cache’, which stores visual data such as shape and colour, and an ‘inner scribe’ that records arrangements of objects, and transfers information to the central executive.
