Types of long-term memory

Question 1

What are the types of long-term memory?

Answer 1

• Declarative (memories of facts and events that can be consciously recalled - available for conscious inspection)
• Non-declarative (memory does not require conscious effort to retrieve - often unavailable for conscious inspection e.g. difficult to declare)

Question 2

What are the different types of declarative memory?

Answer 2

• Semantic memory:
• Memory for facts learnt throughout life
• Typically not stored with reference to time and place
• Brain scanning evidence suggests stored in hippocampus and recall of this involves left prefrontal cortex
• Episodic memory:
• Memory for personal events
• Stored with reference to time and place
• Brain scanning evidence suggests stored in hippocampus and recall of this involves right prefrontal cortex

Question 3

What is the type of non-declarative memory?

Answer 3

• Procedural memory:
• Muscle-based memory for motor skills/actions
• Can be recalled without conscious awareness or great deal of effort (unlike declarative memory)
• More difficult to verbally explain than episodic and semantic memories (e.g how to ride a bike)
• More resistant to forgetting than episodic and semantic memories
• Brain scanning evidence suggests stored in cerebellum

Question 4

Outline one strength of types of long-term memory

Answer 4

• Received supporting evidence from clinical studies
• E.g Clive Wearing was an amnesic who had impaired episodic memory, in that when wife entered the room, greeted her joyously believing he had not seen her for years despite her only having left a minute before
• Had intact semantic memory (remembered she was his wife) and intact procedural memory (could still play piano)
• Strength because selective impairment of EPM but intact SEM and PRM supports idea that there are different types of LTM
• Adds validity to research into the distinct types of LTMs

Question 5

Outline final strength of types of long-term memory

Answer 5

• Received supporting neuroimaging evidence
• E.g Tulving et al instructed participants to perform various tasks while scanning their brains
• Found that both SEM and EPM were both recalled from prefrontal cortex
• SEM from left prefrontal cortex and EPM from right
• Location of PRM was more associated with cerebellum
• Strength because it shows that there are different LTM stores which occupy different areas of brain
• Adds validity to research into different types of LTM