Long term memory

• Types of LTM:

  • Episodic memory - Memories with personal meanings attached to them with details of how they occurred. These could be associated with people and place ('time-stamped').

  Example - The first time meeting a partner.
• Types of LTM:

  • Semantic - Describes our knowledge of the world with associated concepts.

  Example - Understanding what words, themes and concepts mean.
• Types of LTM:

  • Procedural - Movement of learned skills that are usually unconscious.

  Example - Swimming or driving.
• Strengths of the types of LTM:

  • Localisation - Petersen et al showed that semantic memories were recalled from the left prefrontal cortex, whilst episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex. This supports not only the idea that there are different types of LTM, but shows that they each have a different neurological basis because they are recalled from different parts of the brain.
• Strengths of the types of LTM:

  • Practical application - Ability to differentiate between different types of LTM. For example, Belleville et al notes that mild cognitive impairments most commonly affect episodic memories and so an increased understanding of episodic memory, alongside the differences between different types of LTM, may lead to improved, increasingly targeted treatments for mild cognitive impairments.
• Strengths of the types of LTM:

  • The cases of HM and Clive Wearing show how one type of LTM may be impaired (episodic in their cases), but the other types of LTM will be unaffected. For example, Clive Wearing was still able to play the piano and understand the concept of music (procedural and semantic) but was unable to remember his wife visiting him 5 minutes previously (episodic). This supports the idea that different areas of the brain are involved in the different types of LTM, and confirms the classification of different types of LTM as separate.