Types Of LTM

Question 1

Episodic Memories

Answer 1

• Events that are personalised to that person.
• Time stamped
• Explicit memory
• Least resistance to forgetting
• Found in the right prefrontal cortex.

Question 2

Semantic Memories

Answer 2

• General knowledge
• Not time stamped.
• Explicit memory
• Moderate resistance to forgetting.
• Found in the left prefrontal cortex and the anterior temporal lobe.

Question 3

Procedural Memories

Answer 3

• Skills acquired through practice- Motor skills.
• Not time stamped.
• Implicit memory.
• High resistance to forgetting.
• Found in the motor cortex, cerebellum and posterior hipppocampus.

Question 4

LTM evaluation- Research support from brain scans

Answer 4

• Research support for types of LTM from brain scans.
• Ev- Tulving. PET scans, 6 participants performing memory tasks, injected radioactive gold.
• Ex- This implies as different areas are active when recalling distinct types of LTM. Objective measure, no demand characteristics possible when when doing memory tasks and measuring with PET scan.
• However, only 3 participants actually took part. Therefore, more of a case study, hard to generalise to others as maybe unique brain differences in those participants.

Question 5

LTM evaluation criticism- Lack of ecological validity

Answer 5

• A criticism of Tulving is a lack of ecological validity, but there is research support with high ecological validity.
• Ev- Clive Wearing, lost episodic memories, but retained some semantic and full procedural.
• Ex- Proves that there are different types as each type as each type was affected to a greater or lesser extent. If one type of LTM then all would be affected to the same extent.
• However, this can be hard to generalise as his brain injury was unique, so we might not be able to generalise the findings to all people.

Question 6

LTM evaluation- Good real life application

Answer 6

• However good real life application from type of LTM research.
• Ev- Episodic memories can be improved in older people with mild cognitive impairments. This means that specific treatments can be developed to help with different impairments.
• Ex- It can also be used to help aid students in exam revision.- Linking semantic memories to procedures.
• However semantic, procedural and episodic memories are linked together. So maybe we need to consider LTM more holistically.