Types of long-term memory

• What is episodic memory?

  Long-term memory store for personal events. It includes memories of when the events occured and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. Memories from this store have to be retrieved consciusly and with effort.
• What is semantic memory?

  Long-term memory store for our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean. These memories usually need to be recalled deliberately.
• What is procedural memory?

  Long-term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things. This includes our memories of learned skills. We usually recall these memories without making a conscious effort
• Evaluation - positive

  • Evidence from cases of HM and Clive Wearing - episodic memory in both men severely damaged, but they could still speak and walk, Clive could still play piano
  • Helps with memory treatment - due to knowledge that episodic memory worsening as we get older
• Evaluation - negative

  • Lack of control variables as we don't know what Clive's and HM's memory was like before damage so we don't know how much worse memory was afterwards
  • Poor agreement on where types of LTM are located - semantic on left of prefontal cortex and episodic on right ot vice versa
  • episodic memory may be a division of semantic memory