Cognitive Psychology: Long-Term Memory

Flashcards reviewing types of long-term memory (episodic, semantic, procedural) and their characteristics.

Episodic Memory

Memory of specific events or experiences in your life, time-stamped and including contextual details and emotions.

Semantic Memory

General knowledge about the world, facts, and concepts, not time-stamped.

Procedural Memory

Memory for skills and habits, often performed automatically without conscious recall.

What is episodic memory?

What type of long-term memory is like a mental diary of personal experiences?

What is semantic memory?

What type of long-term memory is like a mental encyclopedia or dictionary?

What is procedural memory?

What type of long-term memory is related to knowing how to do something?

Explicit/Declarative Memory

Memory with conscious recall

Implicit/Nondeclarative Memory

Memory without conscious recall

Time/Temporal referencing

Relates to when something occurs.

Spatial referencing

relates to where something occurs

Semantic - Definition

Mental encyclopedia / Knowledge of facts

Episodic - Definition

Mental diary

Semantic - Example

E.g. Capital city of France is Paris

Episodic - Example

Memory of an event e.g. birthday party

Semantic -Time + Spatial referencing - Is input fragmented or continuous?

Independent of time and spatial (location) referencing

Semantic -Is input fragmented or continuous?

Input is fragmented e.g. two facts independently learnt and later pieced together

Episodic - Time + Spatial referencing - Is input fragmented or continuous?

Dependent on time and spatial referencing – linked to the time and place in which they occurred

Episodic - Is input fragmented or continuous?

Input is continuous

Semantic - Retrieval & Forgetting - Retrieval failure, Use of context

Retrieval not dependent on context to aid recall

Semantic- - Is explicit/direct learning required?

Retrieval possible without learning – can be based on inferences, generalization, rationality

Episodic - Retrieval & Forgetting - Retrieval failure, Use of context

Retrieval uses cues and context which are encoded at the point of learning

Episodic - Which is more susceptible to change/transformations?

Susceptible to transformations from schemas e.g., leading questions and post event discussions (Reconstructive memory theory)

Distinction point between semantic and episodic memory

We may not recall when and where we learned /encoded our semantic memories but we depend on this for our recall of episodic memories.

HM case study - Strengths

anterograde amnesia: can still form new procedural memories but NOT episodic or semantic memories

Brain scan - recalling semantic memories from

Left prefrontal cortex

Brain scan - recalling episodic memories from

Right prefrontal cortex

Ostergaard (1987) Anoxic brain injuries - Strengths

Could make educational progress and was able to store semantic memory but not episodic memory

Tulving carried out a case study of Kent Cochrane (K.C.)

Lost all episodic (childhood) memories, semantic memory was still intact

Cohen and Squire (1980)

Declarative memories can be consciously recalled upon, compare to automatic, procedural memories which are non-declarative

Tulving

Episodic memories rely on cues that were attached at the time of encoding in order to be retrieved therefore to gain a more accurate eyewitness testimony, the police should try access cues