types of long term memory

Question 1

who proposed the 3 types of long term memory

Answer 1

Tulving (1985)

Question 2

what are the 3 types of LTM that Tulving (1985) proposed

Answer 2

• episodic memory
• semantic memory
• procedural memory

Question 3

what is episodic memory

Answer 3

• ability to recall events from our lives
• like a diary
• timestamped - remember what and when they happened
• stores information about how events relate to each other in time
• you have to make a conscious effort to recall episodic memory

Question 4

what is semantic memory

Answer 4

• shared knowledge of the world
• combination of a dictionary and encyclopaedia
• contains knowledge of concepts like love and animals
• memories are not timestamped
• less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting than episodic memory

Question 5

what is procedural memory

Answer 5

• memory for actions or skills
• recall without conscious awareness
• like riding a bike

Question 6

strength of types of long term memory

Answer 6

1. clinical evidence
   - case study of HM and Clive Wearing
   - episodic memory was impaired due to brain damage
   - semantic memory was unaffected
   still understood the meaning of words (cant remember stoking a dog but knows what a dog is)
   - procedural memory still intact (know how to walk, speak and play piano)
2. real world application
   - understanding types of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems
   - research shows that old age memory loss is specific to episodic memory
   - bellevile et al 2006 devised an intervention to improve episodic memory in older people training them to perform better in a test of episodic memory than the control group

Question 7

limitations of types of long term memory

Answer 7

1. conflicting neuroimaging evidence
   - Bunker and Peterson (1996) reviewed evidence regarding the location of semantic an episodic memory and concluded that semantic memory is located in the left side of the prefrontal cortex and the episodic memory on the right side
   - however other research link the left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic memory and the right prefrontal cortex with episodic retrieval (tulving et al 1994)