Types of LTM

Question 1

LTM Store 1 - Episodic Memory

Answer 1

1) Stores Events
- e.g. most recent visit to the dentist, breakfast you ate this morning.

2) Complex
- They are time-stamped - you remember when they happened and how they relate in time.
- They involve several elements - people, places, objects & behaviours are woven into one memory.

Question 2

LTM Store 2 - Semantic Memory

Answer 2

1) Stores our Knowledge
- Like a combination of an encyclopaedia and a dictionary.
- e.g, includes knowledge of such things as how to apply to university, the meaning of words.

2) Not Time-Stamped
- Less personal information than episodic memories and more about facts we share.

Question 3

LTM Store 3 - Procedural Memory

Answer 3

1) Stores Actions/ Skills
- Memories of how we do things.
- E.g. driving a car, riding a bike.

2) Recall occurs without awareness/effort
- Skills become automatic without practice.
- Explaining step-by-step procedure (how to ride a bike) is hard because you do it without conscious recall.

Question 4

STRENGTH of Types of LTM

Answer 4

CASE STUDY EVIDENCE

1) Clinical studies of amnesia (HM and Clive Wearing) showed both had difficulty recalling events that had happened to them in their pasts (episodic memory).
2) But their semantic and procedural memories were relatively unaffected (e.g. Clive Wearing still played the piano).
—> This supports the view that there are different memory stores in LTM because one store can be damaged but other stores are unaffected.

COUNTERPOINT:
1) Lack of control in clinical studies - don’t know anything about person’s memory before brain damage —> limited method.

Question 5

LIMITATION of Types of LTM

Answer 5

CONFLICTING FINDINGS

1) Researchers reviewed research findings and concluded semantic memory is located in left prefrontal cortex & episodic in right prefrontal cortex.
2) BUT (Tulving et al.) other studies found they were located in reverse.
—> Challenged neurophysiological evidence as there is poor agreement on where each type is located.

Question 6

STRENGTH of Types of LTM

Answer 6

REAL-LIFE APPLICATION

1) Memory loss in old age is specific to episodic memory - harder to recall memories of
recent experiences
although past episodic
memories are intact.
2) Belleville et al. (2006) devised an intervention for older
people targeting episodic memory which improved their memory compared to a control group.
—> Shows distinguishing between types of LTM enables certain treatments to be developed.