Long term memory

• episodic memory

  memory store for personal events.

  includes memories of when the events occurred, the people, objects, places and behaviours involved.

  memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously with effort.
• semantic memory

  memory store for our knowledge of the world.

  includes facts + our knowledge of what words and concepts mean.

  these memories need to be recalled deliberately
• procedural memory

  memory store for our knowledge of how to do things.

  includes our memories of learned skills.

  usually recall these without making a conscious effort.
• strength - clinical evidence

  HM + Clive Wearing

  Episodic memory of both men was severely impaired due to brain damage.

  Semantic memories were relatively unaffected, they still understood the meaning of words

  procedural memories were also still intact.

  evidence supports different LTM memory stores
• counterpoint - clinical evidence

  lack of control variables in case studies.

  brain injuries are usually unexpected so researcher had no control of what happened and no knowledge of the memory before damage.

  so difficult to judge how much worse it is
• limitation - conflicting neuroimaging evidence

  Conflicting research findings linking types of LTM.

  Buckner + Peterson

  reviewed evidence regarding lcoation of semantic + episodic memory.

  sematic located on left side of prefrontal cortex and episodic on the right.

  but, other research links the left with encoding of episodic memories on the left and episodic retrieval on the left.

  poor agreement on where LTM may be
• strength - real world application

  psychologists can help people with memory problems.

  research has shown that people experiencing memory loss as they age is directly linked to episodic memory.

  researchers created an intervention to improve episodic memories in older people and participants performed better after training.