Types of Long Term Memory Flashcards
How is Long Term Memory separated into 2 sub-stores?
The Long Term Memory can be divided in 2:
- Declarative memory (conscious) - easy to describe
- Non-declarative memory (unconscious) - hard to describe
What are the 3 types of Long Term Memory?
Episodic
Semantic
Procedural
What is episodic memory?
Remembering events according to WHEN & WHERE they happened
What is semantic memory?
Concerned with knowledge about the world such as facts
Linked to episodic as we learn new things from new experiences
What is procedural memory?
“Muscle memory” which allows individuals to perform tasks with little conscious effort - includes language
What are the strengths of the types of Long Term Memory?
Case studies - Clive Wearing (musician) = no episodic, had procedural
Research support:
- Vicari et al (2007) - 8yr old - semantic, difficulty with episodic
- Finke (2002) - cellist no semantic or episodic but had procedural
Brain scanning research - Tulving (1989)
What case study supports types of Long Term Memory?
Clive wearing - suffered viral infection which damaged brain
Can read music and piano but didn’t have episodic memory
What did Vicari et al (2007) find?
An 8-year old suffered brain damage from tumour removal
She couldn’t form episodic memories
She can form semantic memories
What did Finke (2002) find?
Brain damage caused PM (68-year old cellist) to not have any semantic or episodic memories but could still read and play music (procedural)
Who found brain scanning evidence to support the types of Long Term Memory theory?
Tulving (1989)
What did Tulving (1989) find?
Did brain scans while asking participants questions and found:
Semantic memory activated the frontal/temporal lobes
Episodic memory active the prefrontal cortex
What are the weaknesses of types of Long Term Memory?
Case studies & research support lack control - can’t control location of brain damage and cannot generalise info from case studies to how LTM works for everyone
Evidence of gender differences in Long Term Memory - Herlitz et al (1997)
What did Herlitz et al (1997) do and find?
Studied 1000 Swedish participants
Found females have better episodic Long Term Memory
No difference in semantic Long Term Memory
Suggests research on types of Long Term Memory cannot generalise to the whole population
What is the strength of episodic memory influenced by?
Emotions and processing of info when coded
What determines the strength of semantic memory?
The amount of processing done during coding
What are the 3 key differences between the types of LTM?
Procedural is unconscious but semantic & episodic are conscious
Semantic and episodic memories are stored in hippocampus but procedural memories are stored in the cerebellum and motor cortex
Remember time when episodic memories are made but don’t remember time when semantic & procedural memories are made
