Types of Long-term Memory

Question 1

What are the different types of long-term memory stores proposed by Tulving (1985)?

Answer 1

• Episodic Memory
• Semantic Memory
• Procedural Memory

Question 2

Episodic Memory Store

Answer 2

• Ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives.
• These memories are more complex than they appear. There are several elements (people, places, objects and behaviours) are interwoven into a single memory.
• These memories are time-stamped (remember when this happened).
• You have to make conscious effort to recall certain memories. You may be able to do quickly but you are still aware that you are searching for your memory of the event.

Question 3

Semantic Memory Store

Answer 3

• Semantic memories contain our knowledge of the world. Compared to a combination of a encyolopaedia and dictionary.
• Less personal ‘facts’ and it is an immese collection which is constantly being added to.
• These are not time-stamped.

Question 4

Procedural Memory Stores

Answer 4

• Memory for actions and skills and how we do things.
• We can recall these memories without conscious awareness or a great deal of effort.

Question 5

Strengths of Tulving (1985)’s Memory Stores

Answer 5

✓ Episodic memory is supported by the case studies evidence, such as clincal studies of amnesia that support the view that there are different memory stores in LTM because one stores can be damaged but the other left unaffected.

✓ Psychologists can target certain kinds of memory in order to improve people’s lives. Belleville et al. (2006) found that episodic memories can be improved in older people with mild cognitive impairments. Training led to improvements (compared to control group). This highlights the benefit of distinguishing between different types of LTM- it allows specific treatments to be developed. This can improve people’s quality of life.

✓ Brain scan studies have been used to support this theory that there different LTM stores. Tulving (1994) had partcipants perform various memory tasks while their brains were scanned with a PET scanner. Episodic and semantic memories were in the preconfrontal cortex; semantic in left side and epoisode on the right side. This shows that there is a physical reality in the brain to the different types of LTM, confirmed in many research studies, supporting its validity.

Question 6

Weaknesses of Tulving (1985)’s Memory Stores

Answer 6

✗ There are problems with the clinical evidence that HM and Clive Wearing bases their theory off. However there was a serious lack of control of different variables in these studies. For example, you can not control the precise location of the brain damage or personality variables. It is diffcult to generalise this to the whole population.
✗ A limitation of Tulving’s approach is that there may be only two types of LTM. Cohen and Squire (1980) argued that episodic and semantic memories are stored together in one LTM store called declarative memory (memories that can be consciously recalled). Cohen and Squire agree that procedural memory is a distinctly different kind of memory to semantic/ episodic, and call it nondeclarative. It is important to get the distinction between semantic and episodic memories right because the way we define them influences how memory studies are conducted.

Question 7

HM and Clives Wearing’s evidence

Answer 7

(HM and Clives Wearing) showed both had diffcultity recalling recalling events that happened to them in their pasts. However semantic memories were relativity were unaffected.