Types of long term memory Flashcards
What did Tulving argue about the multi store memory model view of long term memory?
Too simplistic an inflexible
What did Tulving propose?
There are three long term memory stores containing different types of information.
What is the episodic memory?
Ability to recall events from our lives.
Store have to be retrieved consciously and with effort.
What is the process of the episodic memory?
Episodic memories are time stamped
Need to make a conscious effort to recall them.
Stored in the hippocampus
What is semantic memory?
Shared knowledge of the world.
Need to be recalled deliberately.
What is the process of the semantic memory?
Not time stamped
Need to make a conscious effort to recall them
Stored in hippocampus
What does Tulving argue about the difference between semantic memory and episodic memory?
Semantic memory is less likely to be vulnerable to distortion and forgetting than the episodic memory.
What is procedural memory?
Memory for actions and skills/how we do things.
What is the process of procedural memory?
Not time stamped
Don’t have to make a conscious effort to recall them
Stored in our motor cortex
What is an evaluation of Tulvings long term memory types?
Clinical evidence
Clive Wearing
Episodic memory severely impaired due to brain injury.
Semantic memory unaffected
Still understood meanings of words
Procedural memory intact
Could walk, speak, read music, sing.
Supports view that there are different memory stores in LTM, one store can be damaged but others are unaffected.
What is an evaluation of Tulvings long term memory types?
Counterpoint of clinical evidence
Lack control of variables
Brain injuries experienced by individuals were usually unexpected
No way of controlling what happened during injury or before.
No knowledge of individuals knowledge before injury.
Difficult to judge how much worse it is afterwards.
Lack of control limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM
What is an evaluation of Tulvings long term memory types?
Conflicting neuroimaging evidence
Conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain.
Buckner and Petersen
Semantic memory - left side of prefrontal cortex
Episodic - right side
However
Tulving
Links left prefrontal cortex - encoding of episodic memories
Right - episodic retrieval
Challenges any neuropyshcological evidence to support types of memory as there is poor agreement on where each type will be located
What is an evaluation of Tulvings long term memory types?
Real world application
Allows psychologists to help people with memory problems
As people age they may experience memory loss
Research, this seems to be specific to episodic memory
Belleville et al
Devised intervention to improve episodic memory in older ppl
Trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training than a control group
Showing distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed
