Types of Long Term Memory

• what are the three types of long term memory

  ->semantic

  ->procedural

  ->episodic
• describe the episodic LTM


  ->it refers to any events that can be reported from a person's life

  ->e.g, times, places involved-for example, riding a camel for the first time in Dubai

  ->it is a type of declarative memory, i.e it can be explicitly inspected and recalled consciously.
• give the other features of the episodic LTM 


  ->split into; autobiographical episodic memory (memories of specific episodes of one's life)

  ->experimental episodic memory (where learning a fact (a semantic memory) has been associated with memory of the specific life episode where it was learned

  ->flashbulb memories; they are detailed autobiographical episodic memories that are stored permanently in LTM when they are first learned, often because they were of emotional or historical importance in that person's life
• describe the semantic LTM


  ->it is a type of declarative (explicit, consciously recalled) memory

  ->the conscious recall here is facts that have meaning

  ->e.g capital of France is Paris
• describe the procedural memory


  ->describes our implicit knowledge of tasks that usually do not require conscious recall to perform them

  ->e.g, riding a bike- we can perform this with ease but struggle to consciously recall how to manage the task
• in what brain region are the three types of LTM associated with?

  ->episodic- hippocampus

  ->semantic-temporal lobe

  ->procedural-cerebellum and motor cortex
• supporting evidence for the different types of LTM

  ->Tulving (1994) did PET scans whilst asking participants to perform memory tasks and found that episodic and semantic memories were recalled from the pre-frontal cortex and stores it in the hippocampus, whereas procedural memories are stored in the cerebellum

  ->this is supporting evidence for Tulving's theory as it suggest that the LTM has more than one store
• case study, patient HM

  ->Patient HM had his hippocampus surgically removed to cure his epilepsy; the surgery was a success, but was left unable to permanently store new info and could only form episodic memories that lasted a matter of a minute

  ->this case also supports the theory, because patient HM showed that despite one store being damaged, but the other stores weren't
• case study of Clive Wearing 


  ->while he doesn't have the episodic and semantic LTM, his procedural LTM is still intact.

  ->as he can presumably write, and play the piano, this shows that after the illness, his skills haven't left him

  ->this increases the validity of this theory