Tulvings explanation of LTM

Question 1

Describe the advantage of Tulvins explanation of LTM

Answer 1

• High reliability it is supported by evidence from a case study of HM which shows the distinction between episodic and semantic memory
• HM’s episodic memory was impaired so he had difficulty recalling events from the past. However, his semantic memory was unaffected.
• Supports Tulvings view that there are different memory stores in LTM, in HM’s case episodic memory was damaged unlike semantic.

Question 2

Describe the application of Tulvins explanation of LTM

Answer 2

• Belleville worked with the elderly who had mild memory impairment. The participants took part in training to improve their episodic memories.
• These participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training.
• It’s possible to improve one type of LTM.
• The benefit of identifying different types of LTM is that it can be used to help people with specific memory problems to lead a normal life at an old age.

Question 3

Describe the disadvantage of Tulvins explanation of LTM

Answer 3

• Overlapping forms of LTM - psychologists don’t accept that episodic and semantic memories are entirely different forms of LTM.
• Tulving viewed episodic memory as a specialised subcategory of semantic memory.
• Tulving showed that it’s possible to have a functioning semantic memory with damaged episodic memory.
• It’s not possible to have a functioning episodic memory with a damaged semantic memory.
• This shows that relationships between types of LTM are more complex than the theory suggests.

Question 4

List the key components of Tulvins explanation of LTM

Answer 4

1. Episodic memory

2. Semantic memory

Question 5

Describe the episodic memory of Tulvins explanation of LTM

Answer 5

• Episodic memory is the ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives - they’re autobiographical.
• They’re time stamped
• The memory of a single event includes a lot of elements like the people who were there etc, these are interwoven to produce 1 memory.
• Episodic memories allow us to ‘time travel’ to past memories and relive them because they have a subjective quality - we are aware that it is a part of our personal experience which is autonoetic consciousness.

Question 6

Describe the semantic memory of Tulvins explanation of LTM

Answer 6

• Semantic memory is the storage of our knowledge of the world and facts.
• Necessary for us to use language, it stores your organised knowledge of language and concepts
• Semantic memory allows us to mentally represent things that aren’t there and it is less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting than episodic memory.
• These aren’t time stamped