types of long-term memory Flashcards
what did tulving (1985) propose?
there are 3 LTM stores containing different types of information
why did tulving (1985) propose that there were different types of LTM?
he realised that the MSM’s view of LTM was too simplistic and inflexible
what are the 3 types of LTM stores?
- episodic memory
- semantic memory
- procedural memory
what are the 2 ways long-term memories can be categorised
- explicit (declarative)
- implicit (non-declarative)
what are explicit memories?
knowledge for events and facts
knowing that
what are implicit memories?
skilled behaviours which are largely unconscious
knowing how
what does episodic memory refer to?
- how ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives
- eg. your most recent visit to the dentist
in what 3 ways are episodic memories complex?
- they are time-stamped: you remember when they happen as well as what happened. they also store information about how events relate to each other in time
- your memory of a single episode will include several elements eg. people and places, objects and behaviours. all of these memories are interwoven to produce a simple memory
- you have to make a conscious effort to recall episodic memories. you do this quickly but are still aware that you are searching for your memory
what does the semantic memory contain?
- our shared knowledge of the world
- eg. how to apply to university, the meaning of words
- it also contains your knowledge of many concepts such as ‘animals’ or ‘love’
- contains an immense collection of material which is constantly being added to
how are semantic memories different from episodic ones?
- not time-stamped
- less personal, more about the facts we all share
- less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting
what is procedural memory?
- memory for actions or skills
- we can recall these memories without conscious awareness or much effort
- these skills may be difficult to explain to someone else
- eg. driving a car
evaluation: clinical evidence from famous case studies of HM and clive wearing
- episodic memory in both men was severely impaired to brain damage caused by an operation (HM) and an infection (clive wearing)
- however, their semantic memories were relatively unaffected
- eg. HM could not recall stroking a dog half an hour earlier but did not need to have the concept of ‘dog’ explained to him
- procedural memories were also intact eg. both still knew how to walk and speak
- clive wearing (a professional musician) knew how to read music, sing and play the piano but cannot remember the names of his children
- this supports the idea that one store can be damaged but others unaffected
evaluation: clinical studies are not perfect
- variables are not controlled
- brain injuries experienced by participants are usually unexpected
- the researcher had no way of controlling what happened to the participant before or during the injury
- the researcher has no knowledge of the individual’s memory before the damage
- without this, it is difficult to judge exactly how much worse it is afterwards
- this limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM
evaluation: conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain
- buckner and petersen (1996) reviewed evidence regarding the location of the semantic and episodic memories
- they concluded that semantic memory is located in the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic memory on the right
- however, other research links the left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic memories and the right prefrontal cortex with episodic retrieval (tulving et al. 1994)
- this challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory as there is poor agreement on where each types might be located
- this limits the extent to which conclusions can be drawn regarding the neurostructural nature of the LTM and any treatments based on these assumptions
evaluation: real-world application
- allows psychologists to help other people with memory problems
- eg. as people age, they experience memory loss
- research has shown that this seems to be specific to episodic memory ie. it becomes harder to recall memories of personal events / experiences that occurred relatively recently but past episodic memories remain intact
- belleville et al. (2006) devised an intervention to improve episodic memories in older people
- the trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training than a control group
- this shows that distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed
