Types of LTM Flashcards
What are the three types of LTM?
Episodic, semantic and procedural.
What is episodic memory?
A long-term memory store for personal events. It includes memories of when the events occurred and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. Memories from this store must be retrieved consciously and with effort.
What is semantic memory?
A long-term memory store for our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean. These memories usually also need to be recalled deliberately.
What is procedural memory?
A long-term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things. This includes our memories of learned skills. We usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort.
Which parts of HM’s memory were damaged and intact and why?
Episodic: damaged – HM could not recall if he had stroked a dog half an hour earlier and could not remember having owned a dog in the past.
Semantic: non-damaged – HM understood what a dog was and could identify one in a picture.
Procedural: non-damaged – HM knew how to tie his shoelaces, how to walk and how to speak.
What are the strengths of the types of LTM?
There is evidence from the supporting case study Clive Wearing. CW suffered from amnesia due to a virus, this caused his episodic memory to be damaged but his procedural and semantic memory was intact, supporting the idea that there are different types of LTM. This therefore suggests that the MSM is too simplistic.
brain scans have found that there are different types of LTM so methodology is scientific. Tulving (1984) conducted PET scans on P’s whilst performing various memory tasks. Found that tasks involving episodic & semantic memories both involved the same area of the brain (prefrontal cortex).This area is divided into two parts.
Semantic memories- left prefrontal cortex.
Episodic memories- right prefrontal cortex. This therefore objectively supports that there are different types of LTM. No researcher bias
identifying different aspects of LTM has allowed psychologist to target certain kinds of memory to improve peoples lives showing useful real life application. Research has shown that episodic memories can be improved by training a group of elderly pp’s with mild cognitive impairments. They showed significant improvements in their episodic memories in comparison to a control group. These treatments can improve quality of life for the PP’s - impacts the economy in a positive way
What is a limitation of the types of LTM?
Case studies that have been used as supporting evidence are very rare and may not be as controlled. CW suffered from amnesia due to a virus, this caused his episodic memory to be damaged but his procedural and semantic memory was intact, supporting the idea that there are different types of LTM. They weren’t studied directly in a lab so Evs could have had an effect. Additionally they are very unique so theories involving them may not be reliable.
