Tulving’s gold memory study

• Another example of cognitive neuroscience research is Tulving's 'gold' memory study
• This case study aimed to find a link between different types of memories and respective activity in the brain
• Method

  Six participants were instructed to sit or lie on a sofa, close their eyes and imagine a memory on any topic they wish. After a minute of this, Tulving had the participants injected with a tracer - a radioactive gold isotope that would be highlighted by a PET scan, which intended to show Tulving which areas of the brain were most active during the imagining of different memories. 

  Participants did this eight times
• Findings

  While three participants were not included due to their inconsistent results, the other three demonstrated a marked difference in blood flow, which would demonstrate differing brain activity.

  The study showed that when semantic memories were thought of (i.e, memories concerned with meaning) the cerebral cortex's parietal and occipital lobes were highlighted, but when episodic memories were thought of (i.e, memories concerned with events) the temporal and frontal lobes were highlighted.
• Conclusion

  Tulving concluded that based on his findings and observations, different types of memories prompted more activity in differing brain areas.