tulvings model of LTM

• episodic memory is remembering how you felt, what you were doing, how you interacted - autobiographical
• semantic memory are facts & statements that you recall - you don't recall how you gained that knowledge
• time referencing


  if the memories are linked to the time they occurred
• semantic time referencing

  • can be recalled without time cues - recalled without reference to when it was learned e.g: you can recall how to add numbers without knowing where & when you learnt this

  episodic time referencing

  • memories linked to the time in which they occurred e.g: remembering first day at school linked to day it occurred
• spatial referencing

  how the memory is encoded
• semantic spatial referencing

  • input in a fragmented way - put together factual information learnt at different times e.g: learning henry VIII had 6 wives, ;ater learn about each wife

  episodic spatial referencing

  • memory is continuous over a time frame e.g: memory of a birthday party
• retrieval

  what affects the recall of memory
• semantic retrieval

  • not affected by retrieval - factual information is unchanged

  episodic retrieval

  • recall is dependent on the context in which event was experienced - context aids retrieval of memory e.g: learn info in one setting = easier to recall in same setting
• forgetting

  inability to recall information
• sematic forgetting

  • memories = robust & less likely to change

  episodic forgetting

  • memories more easily changed
• strength

  • brain damaged patients supports tulving - 2 seperate stores in LTM
  • KC had brain damage after a motorbike accident and was unable to recall memories of personal events in life (episodic) but able to recall factual information (semantic)
  • supports idea of separate LT stores but indicates stores may be stored in different regions of the brain
• weakness

  • clive wearing demonstrates that tulving's model of 2 LTM stores is inaccurate
  • clive while unable to produce memories of episodic events, still had knowledge of facts such as his name, has a wife and facts about his life, able to play the piano and other instruments - a skill which isn't an episodic nor semantic memory
  • must be a 3rd LTM storage for practiced skills - in 1985 tulving added "procedural" store of memory
• what is procedural memory?

  muscle memory
• weakness

  • tulving (2002) later research demonstrates that 2 LT stores may not be separate
  • possible to have fully functioning semantic memory but a damaged episodic (e.g: amnesia patients) but found no patients who had an intact episodic memory and a damaged sematic one
  • suggests 2 stores of memory may not be independent - episodic relies on sematic memory