Memory pt2

• Long-Term Memory (LTM)


  One of the three types of memory proposed by Tulving, distinct from episodic, semantic and procedural memory
• Tulving's view of LTM

  • The multi-store model's view of LTM was too simplistic and inflexible
  • There are three LTM stores containing quite different types of information: episodic, semantic and procedural memory
• Types of Long-Term Memory

  • Episodic
  • Semantic
  • Procedural
• Explicit (declarative) memory


  Includes memories for events and facts
• Implicit (non-declarative) memory


  Includes memories for skills and behaviours
• Episodic memory


  • A type of explicit memory that refers to our ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives
  • These memories are time-stamped and include information about how events relate to each other in time
  • Episodic memories require conscious effort to recall
  • The strength of episodic memories is determined by the strength of the emotions experienced when the memory is coded
  • Episodic memories are associated with the hippocampus and frontal cortex
• Semantic memory


  • A type of explicit memory that includes memory for knowledge, facts, concepts and meaning about the world around us
  • Semantic memories are not time-stamped and are less personal
  • Semantic memories are generally stronger than episodic memories
  • Semantic memories are associated with the temporal lobe
• Procedural memory


  • A type of implicit memory that is our memory for actions, skills or how we do things
  • Procedural memories are recalled without conscious awareness or much effort
  • Procedural memories are associated with the cerebellum and motor cortex
• Interference


  Interference is where two lots of information become confused in memory, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten
• Proactive interference (PI)


  • Older memory interferes with a newer one
• Retroactive interference (RI)


  • Newer memory interferes with an older one
• McGeoch and McDonald's study on the effects of similarity


  1. Participants learned an original list of words, then learned a new list that was either synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, consonant syllables, or three-digit numbers

  2. Recall of the original list was worst when the new list was most similar (synonyms)
• Explanation of the effects of similarity

  Similarity could cause either proactive interference (previous information makes new similar information harder to store) or retroactive interference (new information overwrites previous similar memories)