Types of LTM Flashcards
What are the three types of LTM?
Episodic, procedural, semantic
What is episodic memory?
Personal memories of events e.g memory of riding your bike. Personal knowledge to you, may remember the context, emotion, specific details of event e.g. time and place. Requires conscious thoughts and declarative.
What is semantic memory?
Shared memories for facts and knowledge. Not personal knowledge. Parts of a bike. Declarative. Requires conscious thoughts.
How can episodic memories become semantic?
Semantic memories can begin as episodic memories because we aquire knowledge based on personal experiences. There is a gradual transition from E to S where the memory loses its association to particular events, so info generalised to a semantic memory.
What is procedural memory?
Memory for how to do things e.g. riding a bike. Unconscious and automatic not declarative. Acquired through repetition and practice.
Why is it important procedural memories are automatic?
So we can focus our attention on other tasks while performing these everyday skills.
Why when we think too much about PM it prevents us acting them out?
Attention to the step-by-step process disrupts the well learned automatic performance.
What part of the brain does procedural memories use?
Associated with the cerebellum and motor cortex.
What part of the brain does episodic memories use?
Hippocampus, temporal lobe.
What part of the brain does semantic memory use?
Temporal lobe
Evaluation Types of LTM Evidence from brain scans+
Distinction between three typ of LTM supported by brain scans. Diff areas of the brain appear to be active when using diff types of LTM. E- hippo, temp P-cerebellum motor c s-temp. This suggests that these types of memory are separate and are found in diff areas of the brain.
Evaluation Types of LTM. + Distinguishing P+D memories.
Evidence from case studies offers further support for diff types of LTM. HM highlights distinction between procedural and episodic and semantic mem. After surgery HM form new p mems x e. And s mems. Supports distinction between P+E/S MEM. Highlighting the multiple types of LTM.
Evaluation Types of LTM. - Problems with evidence from brain damage patients.
Criticism of research in this area reliance of patients with brain damage. Difficult to conclude from patients like HM exact parts of brain that are affected until after patient dies, also, damage to a particular area of brain x mean area is responsible for a particular behaviour. This means that we can’t establish a causal relationship between a particular brain region and different types of LTM.
Evaluation of LTM.
There may be a fourth type of LTM.
Research has suggested that implicit memories also influence the response a person makes. Priming refers to the influence of implicit (automatic+unconscious mems) on our responses. Priming is controlled by a brain system separate from the temporal system that supports explicit memories (semantic+episodic). This suggests the OG theory of LTM is too simplistic and other types of LTM memory might exist.
