LTM

• LTM -

  Coding: Semantic

  Capacity: Unlimited

  Duration: Unlimited
• Tulving (1985):

  Argued the MSM of memory was too simplistic and suggested that there were different types of Long-term memory which all store different types of memories:

  • Episodic
  • Semantic
  • Procedural
• Episodic memory is a LTM store for personal events (episodes) from our lives e.g. last Christmas

  • Episodic memories are ‘time-stamped’
  • Memories of a single episode contain several elements e.g. people, places, objects
  • You have to make a conscious effort to recall them
• Semantic memory is a LTM store for our knowledge of the world e.g. What an orange tastes like

  • Semantic memories are not ‘time-stamped’ – we don’t know when we learnt the knowledge
  • It contains a huge amount of information
  • It is less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting
  • Needs to be deliberately recalled
• Procedural memory is a LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things, including memories of learned skills.

  • Procedural memories are the types of skills we may find hard to explain to others
  • We usually recall them without making a conscious/deliberate effort
• strenght -

  Clive Wearing’s episodic memory was impaired due to brain damage, however his semantic and procedural memories were intact – Clive still knew how to play the piano but did not recall personal events.

  Supports Tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in LTM as one store can be damaged but others are unaffected
• weakness -

  Studying patients with brain injuries can help improve our understanding of memory but they lack control and it is difficult to judge the exact effects on memory.

  The lack of control limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM
• strength -

  Understanding LTM can help people with memory problems and effective interventions to improve episodic memories specifically have been developed.

  Distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed.
• weakness -

  Brain scans have shown that episodic and semantic memories were both recalled from different sides of the prefrontal cortex, however research is mixed.

  There is poor agreement on where each types of memory may be located in the brain.