Long-term memory Flashcards
Who the 3 types of long-term memory ?
- episodic memory
- semantic memory
- procedural memory
What is episodic memory ?
- recalls events from our lives
- likened to a diary
- ‘timestamped’ - when and what
- includes elements such as objects and people and location
- conscious effort to recall
What is semantic memory ?
- shared knowledge of the world
- likened to an encyclopedia
- not time-stamped
- more factual than personal
What is procedural memory ?
- memory of actions or skills
- without conscious awarement
- becomes automatic through practice
- may be hard to explain
What is an example of episodic memory ?
- first day at school
What is an example of semantic memory ?
- who won the 2018 world cup
What is an example of procedural memory ?
- riding a bike
What are the strengths of long-term memory ?
Research support: Clive Wearing
- This man had his episodic memory very severely impaired due to brain damage.
- He still understood the meaning of words and both still knew how to walk speak and play the piano to a high level.
- However couldn’t remember things like when he got married to his wife.
Real-world application:
- Understanding the types of LTM has allowed psychologists to help people who deal with memory problems.
- As people age it has been shown that they experience memory loss. But research has shown that this is specific to episodic memory.
- Belleville devised an intervention to improve episodic memory in older people. The trained participants did better on a memory test in comparison to the control group.
- Shows how distinguishing different types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed.
What is a limitation of the types of long-term memory ?
Conflicting neuro-imaging evidence :
- Buckner and Peterson
- Looked at the location of episodic and semantic memory
- Said semantic is located in the left prefrontal cortex and episodic is on the right
- However Tulving looked at episodic encoding on the left prefrontal cortex and retrieval on the right prefrontal
