Types of long-term memory Flashcards
What are the 3 types of long-term memory?
Procedural memory, episodic memory and semantic memory
Describe episodic memory
Refers to the ability to recall events from our lives (episodes) - like a diary.
These are complex memories.
They are time stamped, so you remember when they happen.
Your memory of a single episode will include several elements - people, places, objects and behaviours.
You make a conscious effort to recall episodic memories.
Give some examples of episodic memories
The class you had yesterday, what you had for breakfast etc.
Describe semantic memory
This store contains our shared knowledge of the world (mix between an encyclopaedia and a dictionary)
They are not time stamped.
It is less personal and more about facts we all share.
It contains an immense collection of information and is always being added too.
Tulving claimed that it was less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting than episodic memory
Give some examples of semantic memory
What words mean, what the capital of a country is, what chocolate tastes like etc
Describe procedural memory
This is our memory for actions and skills.
We recall these without conscious awareness or much effort.
Give some examples of procedural memory
Driving or riding a bike
Describe the case of Clive Wearing
Clive Wearing has a severe form of amnesia (the worst case known) that resulted from a viral infection that attacked his brain, damaging the hippocampus and associated areas. He can remember how to play the piano, and who his wife is, but other than that, any information he learns/ stuff he does is forgotten within 30 seconds. Everytime he sees his wife, he greets her joyously, believing he has not seen her for 20 years (since he became ill).
Describe what happened to Clive Wearing in terms of memory
Clive Wearing’s procedural memory is intact, so he can still play the piano. But his episodic memory has been badly damaged, so he has no recollection of events in his life. This includes playing a piece of music just a few minutes earlier. So he will play the same piece because he can’t remember playing it the last time.
Give 2 strengths of the 3 types of LTM stores
- Clinical evidence (case studies of HM and Clive Wearing). Episodic memory in both men was impaired due to brain damage. Their semantic and procedural memories were relatively unaffected - they both knew how to speak/ walk and Clive could still play the piano. This supports Tulving’s view that there are many different memory stores in LTM - one store can be damaged but the other stores are unaffected.
- Real world application. Understanding the different types of LTM help with memory problems. As people age, they experience memory loss. Research has shown that its usually episodic memory that occured recently that becomes harder to recall and those memories from the past remain intact. Pyschologists (2006) devised an intervention to improve episodic memories in older people. After ‘training’ the participants performed better on a test of episodic memory than the control group
Give 2 limitations of the 3 types of LTM stores
- Lack control of variables. Brain injuries are usually unexpected so the researcher has no way of controlling what happened to the participant before and during the brain injury - how their memory originally was. Therefore how can they judge exactly how much memory has been effected
- Conflicting neuroimaging evidence. Buckner and Peterson (1996) reviewed evidence of the location of semantic and episodic memory. They concluded that the 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)
