types of long term memory

Question 1

who proposed the idea that the multi-store model proposed the LTM as too simplistic and inflexible (and when)

Answer 1

Tulving (1985)

Question 2

what are the 3 types of LTM

Answer 2

• episodic
• semantic
• procedural

Question 3

define episodic memory

Answer 3

• ability to recall events
• complex memories
• time-stamped = remember when they happened
• memory of single episode includes several elements
• conscious effort to recall episodic memories

Question 4

define semantic memory

Answer 4

• shared knowledge of the world
• contains knowledge of impressive number of concepts eg. love, animals
• not time-stamped
• less personal & more about shared facts
• constantly being added to
• Tulving said it’s less prone to distortion/forgetting than episodic

Question 5

define procedural memory

Answer 5

• actions & skills
• recall without conscious awareness/much effort
• automatic through practice
• may find hard to explain to others

Question 6

AO3 +) clinical evidence from famous case studies
-) lack control variables

Answer 6

E:
- case studies of HM & clive wearing
- episodic memory in both was impaired but semantic memories were mostly unaffected
- still understood meaning of words (eg. HM couldn’t recall stroking a dog 30 mins ago but knew what a dog was)
- procedural memories also intact as could walk/speak & clive wearing could play music/sing eg. piano

T: supports tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in LTM

HOWEVER: lack control variables as brain injuries were mostly unexpected
- researcher has no control over what happens before/during injury & no knowledge of individuals memory prior to accident
- cannot accurately judge level of effect
T: lack of control limits what clinical studies can highlight about different types of LTM

Question 7

AO3 -) conflicting neuroimaging evidence that link types of LTM to areas of the brain

Answer 7

E:
- buckner & petersen (1996) reviewed evidence on location of semantic & episodic memory
- semantic memories located on left side of prefrontal cortex & episodic memories on the right
- other research links left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic memories & right prefrontal cortex with episodic retrieval (tulving et al. 1994)

T: challenges neurophysical evidence supporting types of memory as there’s poor agreement on where they may be located

Question 8

AO3 +) real-world application

Answer 8

E:
- allows psychologists to support people with memory issues
- eg. when people age, memory loss occurs but research has shown this is specific to episodic memory (harder to recall memories of personal events & experiences that happened relatively recent but past episodic memories remain intact)
- belleville et al. (2006) designed intervention to improve episodic memories of elderly people = performed better after

T: distinguishing different types of LTM enables treatments to be developed