types of LTM

• how did the types of ltm get discovered

  tulving said the MSM was too simple and the LTM is not a unitary store
• what are the three types of LTM


  episodic

  semantic

  procedural
• what is episodic ltm


  events that took place at a specific time

  - a store for personal events eg life events, stories such as an episode from a soap opera, a special birthday or gcse results
• what is semantic ltm


  factural/meaningful info

  - for our knowledge of the world such as facts which are not time stamped (eg a word definition) or that we don't remember when we learn this information
• what is procedural ltm


  memory for how to do things (nicknamed muscle memory)

  -store for how we do actions or skills such as riding a bike

  - we are often unconscious of how we do these and find it difficult to describe how we do them
• evidence for the stores of the ltm


  brain scans, neuro-imaging

  clinical evidence -case studies of individuals
• how do brain scans prove the multiple stores of LTM


  neuro-imaging can show that different parts of the brain are activated depending on if it is episodic or semantic information
• what areas of the brain is episodic memory associated with


  the hippocampus and parts of the temporal lobes which are close to the hippocampus

  - some activity also in the frontal lobes

  
  

  tulving found that the prefrontal cortex of the right hemisphere is active when recalling episodic memories
• what areas of the brain is semantic memory associated with


  the temporal lobes

  
  

  tulving found that the prefrontal cortex of the left hemisphere is active when recalling semantic memories
• what areas of the brain is procedural memory associated with


  associated with the cerebellum + motor cortex

  
  

  basil ganglia and limbic system are also involved
• tulvings conclusion for neuro-imaging evidence


  this localisation of function supports the theory of more than one type of LTM which are found in separate parts of the brain
• what is the clinical evidence/ case study that supports tulvings theory of multiple LTM


  HM and Clive wearing

  
  

  HM- mirror drawing

  His skill in a mirror drawing task improved but he could not recall doing the task

  - the improvement showed that he was learning in a procedural way however he could not remember he had done the task as this would use episodic memory

  
  

  Clive wearing - playing piano

  he had damage to his STM and therefore his ability to make new episodic memories

  - he could not remember a conversation or reading a news article but his procedural memory was not affected

  - much of his semantic memory was also in tact which suggests there are different types of LTM and it is not a unitary store
• weaknesses in tulvings evidence for multiple stores of LTM


  population validity

  - case studies are just of two people and do not represent the wider global population

  
  

  hard to establish causal relationships between a brain region and type of LTM

  - it is hard to establish which parts of the brain have been damaged until a patient has died

  - damage to a particular area does not mean that that it is responsible for a certain behaviour, it could be a relay station for example

  
  

  brain scans do not show us how something occurs

  - they only show us where the activity is, not how the area is interacting with other areas
• declarative differences between episodic, semantic and procedural memory


  episodic: is declarative

  semantic: is declarative

  procedural: is not declarative
• time/place encoding differences between episodic, semantic and procedural memory


  episodic: is time/place encoded

  semantic: is not

  procedural: is not
• resistance to forgetting differences between episodic, semantic and procedural memory


  episodic: less resistant

  semantic: less resistant

  procedural: more resistant
• location in brain differences between episodic, semantic and procedural memory


  episodic: hippocampus/temporal lobe/right prefrontal cortex

  semantic: temporal lobe/left prefrontal cortex

  procedural: cerebellum/motor cortex/ basal ganglia/ limbic system