types of long term memory

Question 1

who proposed the types of long term memory

Answer 1

Episodic Memory
Semantic Memory
Procedural Memory

Question 2

Episodic Memory

Answer 2

Memory for personal experiences and specific life events (e.g. your last birthday).
Time-stamped: You remember when it happened.
Conscious retrieval: You’re aware when recalling it.
Linked to emotion and context (e.g. sights, sounds).
Brain area involved: Hippocampus + frontal cortex.

Question 3

Semantic Memory

Answer 3

Memory for facts, knowledge, and meanings (e.g. the capital of France is Paris).
Not time-stamped: You usually don’t know when you learned it.
Conscious retrieval, but not personal.
Often begins as episodic but loses time element over time.
Brain area involved: Temporal lobe.

Question 4

Procedural Memory

Answer 4

Memory for skills and actions (e.g. riding a bike, typing).
Unconscious: Recalled without effort.
Hard to explain verbally (“muscle memory”).
Doesn’t require awareness or conscious thought.
Brain area involved: Cerebellum + motor cortex.

Question 5

Strength of types of LTM

Answer 5

✅ Strengths:
1. Research support from case studies (e.g. HM and Clive Wearing)
Both patients had damage to their episodic memory but could still learn and perform tasks (procedural memory intact). Clive Wearing, for instance, could still play the piano but could not remember personal events. This supports the view that LTM is not unitary and that different types rely on different brain areas.

2. Brain scan evidence (neuroimaging)
   Tulving et al. (1994) used PET scans and found that episodic and semantic memories are stored in different parts of the prefrontal cortex (left = semantic, right = episodic). This provides biological evidence that the types of LTM are physically distinct, supporting the theory.
3. Practical applications
   Understanding different types of LTM has real-life benefits, especially in treating memory loss. For example, knowing that procedural memory is often unaffected in dementia can help caregivers focus on what skills patients can still perform, even if they lose episodic memories. This shows the model has useful, applied value.

Question 6

Limitation of types of Long term memory

Answer 6

1. Difficult to test types of LTM directly
   Much of the evidence comes from case studies or neuroimaging, which can be hard to replicate or interpret clearly. For example, brain damage is rarely isolated to just one area, making it difficult to determine exactly which part of memory is affected. This reduces the scientific precision of the model.
2. Overlap between episodic and semantic memory
   Some psychologists argue that episodic and semantic memories are not entirely separate. For example, remembering your first day at school is episodic, but knowing what school is involves semantic knowledge. This blurred boundary questions how distinct these categories really are.