LTM

• Long Term Memory

  
• Episodic Memory


  Aspect of LTM responsible for storing info about events that we have experienced

  - Involves conscious thought and is declarative

  - He suggested it was temporal (related to time)

  - You know when and where you learnt it/experiences it

  - Input and encoding is temporal as it occurs at the a particular moment in time

  - Memories linked to time and concepts of events

  - Mental diary
• Semantic Memory


  Aspect of LTM responsible for storing info about the world

  - Includes meaning of words and general knowledge

  - It is not temporal input

  - 2 related bits of info can be learnt at separate times and linked in a temporal way later

  - Able to make connections

  - Mental encyclopedia: organises body of knowledge
• Nature of SM and EM

  EM- episodes of memory, anything personal to you, experiences separate pieces of LTM, storing info of events

  
  

  SM- the end product of learning, academic skills, facts, work, definitions, concepts, numbers, perfected as a result of learning
• Time referencing of SM and EM

  EM- memories about experiences you have are linked to the time they occurred in your life, may remember more recent things better

  
  

  SM- memory isn't linked to time because you can remember facts without referencing when and where you learnt the fact
• Spatial referencing of SM and EM


  Spatial refers to where something occurred

  
  

  EM- memory relates to remembering a whole event in one piece, a temporal frame of reference as you know how it played out (Continuous)

  
  

  SM- memory for facts, being told at separate points of events that have previously occurred and piecing them together (Fragmented)
• Retrieval of SM and EM

  EM- memory is dependent on the context in which the event was initially experienced, context aids the retrieval of EM, Turling believed it was susceptible to transformation

  
  

  SM- memory does not seem to be dependent on the context it is learnt and assumed retrieval of SM does not seem to depend on context to aid recall, can be based on inferences, generalisation and rational logical thoughts/ideas, SM leaves the memory trace unchanged from original form, so we can recall a fact without affecting knowledge
• Introduction of memory types of SM and EM (connected/interact)

  EM- cannot operate without SM as we need to be able to use previous knowledge of events, objects and people to understand them

  
  

  SM- Tulving argues that it is a completely separate store, you do not need EM to remember facts

  
  

  Tulving argued that the 2 systems overlap but are completely separate
• LTM of SM and EM- Evaluation

  Strengths: Case studies KC and CW, Baddeley

  Weaknesses: Squire and Zola, hard to measure, reductionist
• LTM of SM and EM- Evaluation: Strength (KC)

  Kent Cochraine

  - Provided evidence for the idea that SM and EM are structurally separate

  - After his accident, he could only remember things from SM but his EM was damaged

  - For example, he could remember definitions but nothing to do with himself like being asked to remember 3 words

  - This suggests that they are different stores and function separately
• LTM of SM and EM- Evaluation: Strength (CW)

  Clive Wearing

  - Provides evidence that SM and EM do not rely on one another to work

  - He lost his EM but still had his SM

  - For example, he could remember how to play the piano which is SM but could remember his wife which is EM

  - This suggests they are different types of LTM as proposed by Tulving

  - They do not need one another to work
• LTM of SM and EM- Evaluation: Weakness (Squire and Zola-KC)

  Squire and Zola: KC

  - They suggested that the two memory functions are linked or even the same thing

  - This is because they proposed that KC's issues were due to damage in his frontal lobe

  - So not an issue with memories but rather his ability to understand and make sense of his memories

  - For example, remembering previously known definitions but can't remember words he was asked to remember after

  - The types of memory must be linked as they work together and both depend on the medial temporal lobe
• LTM of SM and EM- Evaluation: Weakness (Squire and Zola- Children)

  Children with amnesia

  - They implied that the two types of memory must be very similar if not the same

  - They studied on children with amnesia and adults with amneisa

  - The children never developed SM and the adults who had both SM/EM seemed to find that both were equally impaired

  - This means they must be closely linked or the same

  - All the functions were equally impaired even without developing it

  - EM appears to be impaired by SM damage or lack of it
• LTM of SM and EM- Evaluation: Weakness (Hard to measure)

  Very hard to measure objectively as you cannot see SM or EM

  - As you can't see it, it makes it hard to define them in a measurable way

  - This means Tulvings concepts are not fully operationalised

  - It's hard to find tests to see if it is true
• LTM of SM and EM- Evaluation: Weakness (Reductionist)

  It is reductionist and oversimplified

  - It oversimplifies down complex human processes of LTM

  - It reduces it down to 2 main components with 2 sub topics

  - There memory types are very simplified into basic principles

  - It cannot explain how the types of memory work and provides little evidence to the actual existence

  - It does not consider the methodological pieces of the theory

  - Other theories are better at explaining LTM