types of LTM + WMM Flashcards
Tulving (1985)
one of the first psychologists to criticise MSM. He said the MSM view of LTM was too simplistic.
Tulving stated that there were 3 LTM stores - episodic, semantic and procedural memory.
episodic memory
store for our personal events - ‘mind’s diary’
contains info such as ‘who, what, when, where’
memories in this store have to be consciously retrieved with effort.
semantic memory
store for our knowledge of the world - ‘mind’s encyclopedia’
information added to this store all the time
procedural memory
store for our knowledge of how to do things - ‘mind’s instruction manual’
it’s how we remember skills eg. how to write
often we do this unconsciously and with very little effort.
case of HM
In an attempt to control his seizures, HM underwent brain surgery to remove his hippocampus and amygdala. Then, H.M’s seizures decreased, but he could no longer form new memories (anterograde amnesia) or remember the prior 11 years of his life.
Clive Wearing
suffered from viral encephalitis. his brain was swelling putting pressure on to the hippocampus.
With his hippocampus destroyed by the virus, Clive’s memory was gone. - severe anterograde amnesia, he can remember very little of his previous life and he is unable to form new memories.
The one person he can remember is his wife Deborah. At the time of his illness, they had been married about a year. Now whenever he sees her he greets her as if they were newlyweds separated for a time even if she just leaves the room and comes back.
strength of different types of LTM - HM
P: supportive evidence from HM
E: HM couldn’t remember if he had stroked a dog 30mins earlier and he couldn’t remember owning a dog in the past. so episodic memory was damaged as he couldn’t remember personal info. however, HM knew what a dog was and could identify one in a pic. so, semantic memory undamaged
C: supports view of different LTM stores as HM’s episodic memory was damaged but his semantic + procedural memories are not.
strength of different LTM - Clive Wearing
P: support from CW
E: episodic memory damaged as he can’t remember his kids names but semantic and procedural memory undamaged as he remembers facts about the world and knows how to play piano
C: supports idea that we have many different types of LTM as he remembers some things but not everything
strength of different LTM - scientific
P: use of brain scans tis scientific
E: Tulving did PET scans on Ps whilst performing memory tasks. this can be replicated so we can repeat the studies over and over. if results are consistent eg. semantic memories in left prefrontal cortex then findings are reliable
C: C+E established eg. tasks using episodic memory show that it’s located in right prefrontal cortex
limitation of diff types of LTM - case study
P: the study used eg. HM was a case study
E: case studies have a small sample size, HM is only 1 person. so we can’t generalise results to everyone esle
C: studying HM doesn’t tell us much about different types of LTM in everyone else
working memory model
Baddeley & Hitch extended the work done by Atkinson & Shiffrin’s Multi-Store Model of Memory.
The idea of a “working memory” store emphasises that STM is an active store.
components:
Visuo spatial sketchpad - processes visual information
Phonological loop - processes auditory info
central executive - involved in learning, reasoning, comprehension & problem solving
the central executive
“CONTROLLER”
controls & coordinates the operations of the other components.
Required to perform a number of tasks:
- Focus and switch attention (decided what to pay attention to or ignore)
- Selects problem solving strategies
- Connects working memory to long term memory.
Can only do so many tasks at once (limited capacity)
phonological loop
“SOUND SYSTEM”
Responsible for processing auditory information.
Split into two sections/components:
Phonological Store (inner ear).
Articulatory Control System (inner voice).
phonological store
limited capacity
Receives sound information from the environment.
Also receives auditory information from our own internal speech via the articulatory control system
articulatory control system
Sub vocal speech.
It has limited capacity
Used to prepare speech & think in words e.g. mental arithmetic/ telephone numbers.
Capacity determined by how long it takes to say something not simply by number of items.
Baddeley - capacity of phonological loop
in a study where there was a list of words that varied in length, he demonstrated that capacity of articulatory control system is limited in capacity.
capacity is determined by how long it takes to say something not by how many items eg. people can recall mor short words than long words. Called the word length effect.
visuo spatial sketchpad
can be split into:
1. Visual component - deals with objects + features
2. a spatial component - deals with locations / movements in space
limited capacity - 3-4 items
episodic buffer
added in 2000
brings material together from other sub systems into a single memory.
also provides a bridge between working memory to LTM.
WMM - one task at a time
argues that we can only do certain tasks at a time.
E.g. we can not complete 2 tasks that use the same component. For example, we cannot listen to the radio and listen to the TV at the same time- both use the Phonological Loop.
However, we can listen to the radio and look at pictures on Face book & Instagram.
- DUAL PERFORMANCE
strength of WMM - supported by KF
E: KF suffered from brain damage in which his STM was damaged- he was able to process visual information but not auditory information
C: supports WMM as visuo-spatial sketchpad was working but phonological loop wasn’t. But, case studies have small sample size as KF was only 1 person so can’t generalise results to everyone else
strength of WMM- supportive studies that look at dual performance
E: Baddeley et al (1975) found that P’s had difficulty performing two tasks that used the same component (visuo-spatial sketchpad).
C:This supports the WMM as it shows that there is separate stores for different types of short term information, and we cannot complete tasks if they both use the same component.
limitation of WMM - incomplete model of memory
E: This is because the WMM only focuses on STM or “working memory”. Doesn’t go into detail about LTM.
C: WMM is less informative than MSM as MSM tells us about duration of LT and that you have to elaboratively rehearse info in STM in order for it to be passed into LTM.
