Long-Term Memory

• who proposed that LTM had three stores?

  Tulving (1985)
• what are the three stores in LTM?

  • Semantic
  • Episodic
  • Procedural
• what other way is LTM separated?

  into declarative and non-declarative
• what is semantic memory?

  • memories of facts and knowledge/concepts
  • type of explicit memory (easy to explain)
  • usually start as episodic memories but progressively lose their association with particular events and only the knowledge remains
  • not 'time-stamped', more than just facts
• what is episodic memory?

  • memories of personal events
  • type of explicit memory
  • includes details of an event, the context in which event took place and emotions associated with the event
  • are 'time-stamped' - have a good idea of when they were, and you should be able to order them
  • will make a conscious effort to recall them
• what is procedural memory?

  • memories of how to do things
  • require a lot of repetition and practice
  • type of implicit memory - we find them very difficult to explain even if we find the actions easy to perform
  • are automatic/ can be done on auto-pilot, so we don't really try to remember them
• neuroimaging evidence has suggested that different types of memory are stored in different regions of the brain, what did Tulving (1994) do?

  • asked participants to perform various memory tasks whilst having their brains scanned using PET scanners
  • showed episodic and semantic memories were recalled, prefrontal cortex activated
  • left pfc involved in recalling semantic memories
  • right pfc involved in recalling episodic memories
• what is the De Renzi et al, (1987) study?

  • an Italian woman who, after an episode of herpes encephalitis that affected the left temporal lobe
  • showed a severe impairment of semantic memory but her episodic memory was relatively undamaged
• what is the O'Conner et al, (1992) study?

  • reported a patient with right temporal lobe damage after herpes encephalitis
  • showed severe impairment in recall of episodic memories but relatively undamaged semantic memory
  • supports the fact that episodic and semantic memories are distinct and reside in different parts
• what are problems with clinical evidence from individuals with traumatic brain injuries?

  • researcher has limited control over variables in a clinical case study - very hard to show causation
  • there may be sufficient damage to the brain that makes it harder to know the causation, even if an area is implicated it could just be a relay station to another area
• what are real-world applications of LTM clinical case studies?

  • gives those connected to a victim of memory damage support on how to communicate with them
  • psychologists can improve the quality of life for those individuals suffering from amnesia (Belleville et al. 2006 - could train older people's episodic memories to help improve their lives)
• who argued that LTM could be split into declarative and non-declarative?

  Cohen and Squire (1980)