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?
ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives
eg. most recent visit to the dentist
in what 3 ways are episodic memories complex?
- time-stamped: remember when they happen as well as what happened. also stores info about how events relate to each other in time
- memory of a single episode will include several elements eg. people, places, objects, behaviours: all these memories are interwoven to produce the memory
- have to make a conscious effort to recall them: happens quickly but, still aware of search for memory
what does the semantic memory contain?
- our shared knowledge of the world
- knowledge of concepts eg. ‘animals’
- immense collection of material that is constantly added to
eg. how to apply to university, the meaning of words
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
- can be recalled w/o conscious awareness or much effort
- 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
- EM was severely impaired due to brain damage caused by an operation (HM) and an infection (clive wearing)
- however, SMs were relatively unaffected
- eg. HM couldn’t recall stroking a dog 30m earlier but didn’t need to have the concept of ‘dog’ explained to him
- PMs 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 ps are usually unexpected
- researcher had no way of controlling what happened to p before or during the injury
- researcher is unaware of p’s memory before damage
- without this knowledge, it’s difficult to judge how much worse p’s 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 vs. tulving et al. 1994)
- B&P (1996) reviewed evidence about location of S & EMs
- concluded that SM is located in the left side of the PFC and EM on the right
- however, T et al. 1994 links the left PFC with encoding of EMs and the right PFC with episodic retrieval
- challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory due to poor agreement on where each type might be located
- limits the extent to which conclusions can be drawn about the neurostructural nature of the LTM and any treatments based on these assumptions
evaluation: real-world application
- research has shown that age-related memory loss seems to be specific to EM ie. harder to recall relatively recently EMs but past episodic memories remain intact
- belleville et al. (2006) devised an intervention to improve EM in older people
- trained ps performed better on a test of EM after training than a control group
- shows that distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed
