Types of ltm

Question 1

One strength of the types of ltm

Answer 1

P- clinical evidence, studies from HM and wearing
E- episodic memory was severely impaired due to brain damage
E- semantic memories still intact - didn’t know he was stroking a dog half an hour ago but knows the concept ‘dog’
E- procedural memory is still intact - knows how to walk, used to be a musician and knows how to play
T- supports tulvings view that there are different memory stores in ltm - one store can be damaged but others not affected.
CP- clinical studies are not perfect and lack control of variables (studying people with brain injuries), injuries are unexpected so the researcher has no control over what happened previously to individuals memory before the damage , difficult to manage how much worse memory is afterwards

Question 2

One limitation of types of ltm

Answer 2

P- there is conflicting research findings linking types of ltm to areas of the brain
E- eg. Buckner and petersen(1996) reviewed evidence on location of episodic and semantic memory- both found in the prefrontal cortex - semantic= left, episodic= right
E- however, other research links the left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic memories and the right prefrontal cortex with episodic retrieval (tulvings)
T- this challenges neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory as there is poor argeement on where each type might be located

Question 3

One strength of types of ltm

Answer 3

P- understanding types of ltm allows psychologists help people with memory problems
E- eg. as people age they experience memory loss particularly in episodic memories
E- it becomes harder to recall personal events/experiences that occurred relatively recently though past episodic memories are still intact
E- devised a interventention to help improve episodic memories in older peoples , participants preformed better on a test of episodic memory than a control group
T- distinguishing between types of ltm enables specific treatments to be developed