Types Of Long Term Memory Flashcards
What is the definition episodic memory?
Long-term memory store for personal events
Includes memories of when events occurred & people, places & behaviours involved
Memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously with effort
What is the definition of semantic memory?
Long-term memory store for our knowledge of world
Includes facts & our knowledge of what words & concepts mean
These memories usually also need to be recalled deliberately
What is the definition of procedural memory?
Long-term store for our knowledge of how to do things
Includes memory of learned skills
We usually recall these memories without making conscious/deliberate effort
Who proposed the episodic, semantic & procedural memory?
Tulving (1972)
Evaluate Tulving’s Long-Term Memory model
Strength - clinical evidence to support it
E.g. HM & Clive Wearing - episodic memory in both men severely impaired from amnesia, they had difficulty recalling what had happened to them in past. But their semantic & procedural memories were unaffected
Ex - supports Tulving’s view of different memory stores in LTM, as 1 store can be affected but others are fine. Evidence memory stores different & stored in different parts of brain.
HOWEVER - These clinical trials contain very small sample size & often lack control over various different extraneous variables
Strength - real life applications
E.g. Ability to identify different aspects of LTM allows psychologists to target certain types of memories to better people’s lives
Ex - episodic type of memory most often affected by mild cognitive impairments. Being able to distinguish between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed
Strength - neuroimaging technique
E.g. Tulving (1994) got participants to perform various memory tasks while brains were scanned using PET scanner, they found eposodic & semantic memories both recalled from prefrontal cortex. Eposodic from right side & semantic from left.
Ex - supports view there’s physical reality to different types of LTM within brain. Also been confirmed many times in later research studies, further supporting validity.
