Tulving Flashcards
What is semantic memory?
Memory of facts, figures, knowledge - your mental
encyclopaedia
What is episodic memory?
Memories of particular events that have happened to you (autobiographical) - your mental diary
Which memory store is time referenced?
Episodic so memories are stored chronologically
Which memory store is spatially encoded?
Episodic so memories are linked together based on when they happened
What memory store do situational cues help with?
Help people recall their episodic memories but
are less helpful for semantic memories (e.g. you remember memories from school by
revisiting but not facts you learned there)
Which memory store is linked to the 5 senses?
Episodic so memories can be triggered by a sight
or a sound or a smell
How does Ostergaard support Tulving?
Found when oxygen-deprived boy damaged both types of memory, his semantic recovered but his episodic did not so there are two stores of Long-term memory (episodic
and semantic), meaning the theory is a credible explanation of human memory
How does Squire and Zola conflict Tulving?
Found episodic and semantic memory are both located in the medial temporal lobe which might mean that they are not separate so episodic and semantic
are not two separate forms of long term memory
What theory does Tulving develop?
Explains different types of LTM (which MSM doesn’t) so its a more detailed
explanation of human memory than MSM making it a stronger theory
What does Tulving fail to explain?
How STM works as it only focuses on LTM so its less useful than MSM which deals with the full human memory system
Why is Tulving useful to society/individuals?
Helps are understanding of dementia as there is evidence for different types of LTM explaining why these patients tend to lose episodic memories in order from the most recent (evidence for time referencing) and why
their semantic memories remain intact for longer, suggesting these must be
separate which explains real world behaviour so this a credible theory
Why is it difficult to test LTM for Tulving’s theory?
Measured retrospectively so it is difficult to test empirically, since the events happened in the past making them difficult to study in a valid way (we’re not always sure if the memory recalled is
accurate or not)
