types of long-term memory

Question 1

what are the 3 stores of LTM

Answer 1

episodic, semantic, procedural

Question 2

who proposed the 3 stores of LTM

Answer 2

Tulving

Question 3

when were the 3 stores of LTM proposed

Answer 3

1985

Question 4

why did Tulving propose the 3 LTM stores

Answer 4

realised the MSM view of LTM was too simplistic and inflexible

Question 5

episodic memory definition

Answer 5

a long-term memory store for personal events. it includes memories of when the events occurs and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously and with effort

Question 6

semantic memory definition

Answer 6

a long-term memory store for the knowledge of the world. this includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean. these memories usually need to be recalled deliberately

Question 7

procedural memory definition

Answer 7

a long-term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things. this includes our memories of learned skills. we usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort

Question 8

what is episodic memory

Answer 8

our ability to recall events from our lives. this has been likened to a diary, an example is most recent visit to the dentist. these memories are complex. these memories are time stamped

Question 9

episodic memory time

Answer 9

memories are time-stamped so you remember when they happened as well as what happened. they store information about how events relate to each other in time

Question 10

episodic memory detail

Answer 10

includes several elements, such as people, places, objects and behaviours. all these memories are interwoven to produce a single memory

Question 11

episodic memory recall

Answer 11

conscious effort to recall. you do this quickly, but are still aware that you are searching for a memory of what happened

Question 12

what is semantic memory

Answer 12

contains shared knowledge of the world, it has been likened to a combination of an encyclopedia and a dictionary. contains knowledge of things such as how to apply to uni and what and orange tastes like, it also contains knowledge of concepts

Question 13

semantic memory time

Answer 13

memories are no time-stamped

Question 14

semantic knowledge details

Answer 14

less personal and more about facts we all share, contains a great collection of material which, given its nature is constantly being added to

Question 15

distortion of episodic and semantic memories

Answer 15

tulving says the semantic memory is less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting than episodic memory

Question 16

what is procedural memory

Answer 16

memory for our actions or skills ( basically how we do things), recall is easy but is difficult to learn for example driving a car

Question 17

procedural memory recall

Answer 17

without conscious awareness or effort

Question 18

learning procedural memory

Answer 18

difficult to learn but becomes automatic with practice

Question 19

explaining a procedural memory

Answer 19

difficult to explain and becomes harder to do if you have to describe when doing a task

Question 20

Clive Wearing cause of memory loss

Answer 20

severe from of amnesia which resulted from a viral infection in his brain, damaging hippocampus and effected associated areas

Question 21

Clive Wearing piano -procedural memory

Answer 21

still has procedural memory as was previously a world-class musician and can still play piano and conduct a choir, however, he cannot remember his musical education

Question 22

what can clive wearing not remember

Answer 22

musical education, children’s names

Question 23

what can clive wearing remember

Answer 23

knows he has children, his wife

Question 24

strength of types of long-term memory- clinical evidence

Answer 24

-evidence from case studies of HM and Clive Wearing
-both men had severely impaired episodic memory but semantic memories were relatively unaffected, they could still understand the meaning of words. procedural memories were still intact, wearing was a professional musician still knew how to play piano and both could walk and talk –>evidence supports Tulving’s theory that there a different stores in LTM as one store can be damaged and other stores unaffected

Question 25

limitation long-term memory - counterpoint to clinical evidence

Answer 25

there is a lack of control variables as brain injuries in participants are unexpected the researcher has no way of controlling what happened to participant before or during the injury. the researcher also has no prior knowledge of participants memory before damage so does not know exactly how much worse memory is after –> lack of control limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM

Question 26

limitation long-term memory- conflicting neuroimaging evidence

Answer 26

-conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain
-Buckner and Peterson (1996) reviewed evidence regarding location of semantic and episodic memory. it was concluded that semantic memory is located left of prefrontal cortex and episodic memory is on the right. however, other research links left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic memories and right with episodic retrival –> challenges and neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory as there is poor agreement on where each type might be located

Question 27

strength long-term memory - real world application

Answer 27

-understanding of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems
-for example as people age they experience memory loss, research has linked this to episodic memory as it becomes harder to recall memories of personal events that occurred recently although past episodic memories remain intact. Belleville et al devised an intervention to improve episodic memories in older people which showed better performance results of test of episodic memory after training a control group –> distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed

Question 28

evaluation long-term memory -same or different

Answer 28

Tulving (2002) found episodic memory is a specilised subcategory of semantic memory. research showed its possible to have a functioning semantic memory alongside a damaged episodic memory but not possible to have functioning episodic memory alongside damaged semantic memory. however, Hodges and Patterson found some with Alzheimer’s could form new episodic memories but not semantic