Types Of LTM Flashcards
Define Semantic memory and example
Memory for facts and knowledge shared by everyone. Less personal and is an immense collection that is constantly added to.
London is the capital of the UK. You need a sharpener to sharpen a pencil.
Define episodic memory and an example
Time stamped memories of personal events in an individuals life, including the people, places and behaviour involved.
Recalling the first time you rode a bike.
Define procedural memory and example
Memory for learned actions, tasks and skills.
Driving a car or surfing
Explain the types of knowledge and which each of the types of LTM fit into
Explicit memory - conscious “knowing that” knowledge - Semantic, episodic.
Implicit memory - unconscious “knowing how” knowledge - Procedural
Case study for different types of LTM
Clive Wearing was a world class musician who contracted a viral infection which attacked his central nervous system and led to total amnesia due to damage to his hippocampus and associated areas.
The hippocampus is responsible for transferring and converting STM into LTM.
He is unable to store new memories and has little episodic memory.
He has no memory of his wedding but remembers he has a wife, cannot remember his musical education
His procedural memory is still intact as he can still play the piano, sight-read and conduct
2 strengths for types of LTM
Evidence from case studies support separate types of LTM - Clive Wearing
This evidence supports Tulving’s (1972) view about the different types of memory stores in the LTM as when one store is damaged the others are can remain unaffected, which also shows that they are encoded and stored in different parts of the brain.
Real life applications. Identification of different types of LTM allow psychologists to develop specific treatments to target certain types of memory. (Belleville et al 2006) found episodic memories can be improved in older people with mild cognitive impairment through memory training. They found participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after intervention.
2 limitations for types of LTM
Conflicting neuroimaging research linking types of LTM to areas of the brain. There are conflicting research findings from brain scanning studies linking types of LTM to areas of the brain. Buckner and Petersen (1996) reviewed evidence regarding the location of semantic and episodic memory. They concluded that the left inferior of the pre-frontal cortex is activated for semantic memory retrieval and right-anterior activation for episodic memory retrieval.
However, Tulving et al. (1996) conversely associated the right prefrontal cortex with episodic retrieval. This notion challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory as there is a lack of unanimous agreement and certainty regarding where each type of LTM might be located.
Evidence has suggested that semantic and episodic memories are stored together. Cohen and Squire (1980) found procedural memories represent one type of LTM but that semantic and episodic memories are stored together in one memory store called declarative memory (memories that can be consciously recalled). Their research findings provide evidence that such a dichotomy exists between ‘knowing how’ and ‘knowing that’ information which calls into question Tulving’s (1972) suggestion of three distinct LTM stores.
