Types of Long term memory

• One type of long-term memory is episodic:-explicit memory-the memory of personal experiences (e.g. first day of school)-memory has three specific elements: details of event, context and emotions
• The strength of the episodic memory is determined by the strength of the emotions experienced when the memory is coded. It's associated with the hippocampus, although other areas of the brain regions are associated with coding (prefrontal cortex).
• Another LTM is semantic memory:-explicit memory -the memory for knowledge, facts, concepts and meaning (e.g. knowing that London is the capital of England) -semantic memories often start as a episodic memory
• The strength of semantic memories is determined by the strength of the emotions experienced when the memory is coded. However, semantic memories are generally stronger in comparison to episodic. Semantic memories are associated with the temporal lobe.
• The last type of LTM is procedural memory: -implicit memory-the memory of performed tasks or skills (e.g. swimming, reading, writing etc) -because it is an implicit memory it's difficult to explain in words-procedural memories are often acquired through repetition and practice -these memories are formed early in life -associated with the cerebellum and motor cortex
• One strength would be that brain scans support the idea that there are different types of long-term memory. For example, brain scans have demonstrated that when asking participants to recall different types of information, different areas of the brain are shown to be active, episodic memories are associated with the hippocampus, semantic memories with the temporal lobe and procedural memories with the cerebellum. This is a strength because research suggests the LTMM storage in different areas of the brain-not unitary.
• Another strength is that the LTM storage has different types, as case studies show. For example, the case study of Clive Wearing- who suffered a viral infection which caused him to suffer damage to his LTM. He struggled to remember semantic and episodic memories however, he was still able to remember procedural memories (e.g. how to play the piano). This is a strength as it supports the theory of LTM storage.
• One weakness is that most supporting research for different types of LTM comes from case studies. For example, case studies are an in-depth study of an individual/small group who have typically had an unusual experience or demonstrated rare phenomena. This is a weakness because it is difficult to generalise the results of a case study to the general population, this is because the cases might demonstrate unique results which wouldn't be seen in anyone other than the individual group.
• A second weakness is that some researchers argue against the existence of d# Therefore, any evidence suggesting otherwise may be flawed. (Cohen and Squirrel 1980)
• The 3 types of long-term memory were proposed by Tulving (1957)