Types of long-term memory

• What are the two types of LTM?


  Explicit (conscious)

  Implicit (unconscious)
• What are two types of explicit LTM?


  Episodic memories(specific personal events and their context)

  Semantic memories(general knowledge about the world)
• What is one type of implicit LTM?

  Procedural memories( performance of actions)
• How is the strength of episodic memories determined?

  Influenced by the emotions present at the time the memory is coded

  affected by the degree of processing of info at coding when they are highly processed events are recalled more easily
• What does episodic memories help individuals distinguish?

  the difference between real events and imagination/delusions
• What was the aim? - Endel Tulving (1989)

  . investigate the possible differences in the processing of episodic and semantic memory tasks

  . assess the effectiveness of neuro-imaging as a means of investigating mental processes
• What was the procedure ?- Endel Tulving

  six volenteers were injected with a small amount of radioactive gold

  Tulving was one of the participants as well as his wife and colleague

  each participant performed 8 successive trials , 80 secs,4 semantic 4 episodic

  2 min rest time with eyes closed and indulge in either episodic or semantic LTM retrival

  episodic topics- personally experienced events

  semantic topics-general knowledge aquired through learning

  would think about topic, gold injected after 60secs,scanning 8 secs later ,scanning took 2.4 secs
• What were the conclusions?- Endel Tulving (1989)

  Episodic and semantic LTMs involve different brain areas and thus seperate forms of LTM
• What were the evaluation points?-Endel Tulving (1989)

  those with impaired episodic LTM tend to have damage to the frontal lobes

  the findings can not be seen as conclusive or generalisable to the population as a whole

  may be difficult to conduct the study and analyse the findings in an unbiased,objective manner
• What were the findings? - Endel Tulving (1989)

  3 participants produced inconclusive data

  other 3 showed consistant differences in cortial blood flow patterns between episodic and semantic thinking

  greater activation in the frontal lobes of the cortex when thinking about episodic memories

  greater activation in the prosterior region of the cortex when retrieving semantic info
• which part of the brain consolidates episodic memories?

  pre-frontal cortex
• what part of the brain connects all of the elements together in episodic and semantic memories?

  hippocampus
• what part of the brain codes semantic memories?

  frontal and temporal lobes
• what parts of the brain are used in procedural memory?

  primary motor cortex

  cerebellum

  pre-frontal cortex
• what was the procedure before Hassibis,Kumaran, Miguire (2007) study?

  21 participants (10 male 11 female)

  one week prior to experiment participants had an interview of 4 tasks
• what were the 4 tasks in H,K,M interview?

  shown a real object

  imagine an object

  imagine a scene

  recall a recent memory
• what was the procedure after the interview ?- H,K,M (2007)

  had a FMRI scan

  were given a one word cue that described what trial theyd be tested on

  7 conditions and 10 trials

  scanning consisted of 4 main trials
• what were the 7 conditions?- H,K,M(2007)

  recall: memory or object

  recreate: the scene or object

  imagine: the scene or object

  focus: imagine focusing upon a white crosshair on a black background
• what were the findings- H,K,M (2007)

  FMRI scans showed it was possible to identify that scene construction involved a wide range of brain areas

  which were different from episodic memory specific responses
• what were the brain areas detected during scene construstion - H,K,M (2007)

  hippocampus

  parahippocampal gyrus

  retrosplenial cortex
• what brain areas were detected in episodic memory specific responses ?- H,K,M (2007)

  anterior medial pre-frontal cortex

  prosterior cinngulate cortex

  precuneus brain areas
• what were the conclusions? - H,K,M (2007)

  episodic LTM involving real and imagined experiences involve different brain areas

  episodic memory can tell the difference between real and imagenery
• what are the evaluation points ? - H,K,M (2007)

  maybe individuals had experienced delusions and/or have difficulty distingushing between reality and fantasy

  imagening experiences can prove to be a useful tool that may prove useful in increasing the understanding of episodic memory
• what are some evaluation points to types of LTM?

  every semantic memory was an episodic memory ( when was the change - difficult to distinguish them)

  semantic memory may involve more of a network of associated links performed in different brain areas rather than being one store (damage from different parts of the brain can effect semantic memory)

  Procedural memory lacks research as in cases of amnesia patients the episodic memory still remains

  procedural memory takes long to learn as they involve motor functions and spatial abilities