Types of Long Term Memory

• We have established that a major weakness of the MSM is that it describes LTM as a single, unitary store. There is lots of research evidence that tells us this is probably not the case.
• Episodic Memory- LTM store for personal events/ experiences (episodes)
• It is time-stamped.
• Includes several elements.
• Have to make a conscious effort to retrieve them.
• Emotion is tied to them.
• Associated with the hippocampus.
• Examples:

  -Visit to the dentist

  -Concert you've been to

  -What you've had for breakfast
• These are all explicit memories.
• Semantic Memory- LTM store for knowledge of the world.
• Combination of a dictionary and a encyclopaedia.
• Not time-stamped.
• Explicit Memories.
• More than just facts and constantly being added to.
• Need to be retrieved with conscious mind.
• Examples:

  -Taste of an orange

  -Meaning of words
• Associated with the temporal lobe.
• Procedural Memory:

  Knowledge of how to do things.
• Memory of learned skills.
• Find hard to explain as they are skills.
• Implicit Memory.
• Recalled unconsciously.
• Acquired through repetition or practice.
• Associated with cerebellum and motor cortex.
• Formed in the early life and have became second nature.
• Examples:

  -Swimming

  -Reading

  -Riding a bike
• Strengths:

  P-Research support for the varying types of LTM.

  B-The case study of Clive Wearing, who suffered from amnesia, shows that there are different LTM stores because some of his LTM was intact, while some was not:

  -Procedural memory was intact, he could remember how to play a piano.

  -Episodic memory was not intact, couldn't remember the names of his children

  S-Suggests the explanations of the different types of LTM are valid.
• P-Evidence of various LTM stores from brain scans of patients.

  B- Tulving et al. had ppts perform different memory tasks, while their brains were scanned using a PET scan. They found that semantic memories were recalled from the LEFT prefrontal cortex and episodic memories were recalled from the RIGHT prefrontal cortex.

  S-This supports the view that there is physical evidence in the brain for the physical reality of different types of LTM. This suggest there is validity.
• Weaknesses:

  P-Used case studies as their main source of evidence.

  B A problem because case studies focus on only one person / or a very small group. People are unique and very different from one and another, so may be true for one person, and not the case for others.

  S-This suggests that such studies cannot be applied to everyone, and as such lack generalisability. This is not universal and lacks validity.
• P- Some psychologists disagree with the idea that there is 3 types of LTM.

  B- For example, they argue that episodic and semantic memories are stored together in one LTM as these contain memories that require conscious recall, unlike procedural memories which can be recalled unconsciously.

  S- This suggests that further research into how LTM works is needed. This suggests it is an incomplete explanation and lacks validity.