Evaluate the types of LTM

HM andClive Wearing case study evidence

A strength of the claim that there are different types of LTM is that it can be supported by research into different case studies. The case studies HM and Clive Wearing included men who had their brains damaged in an accident and therefore had their memories damaged too. They were unable to recall episodic memories from their lives, however, they could still walk and talk, and they could recall general knowledge. This meant that their semantic and procedural memory stores were both intact, suggesting that they are separate from the episodic memory store. This is a strength because it is in line with what Tulving said about separate memory stores. However, these clinical cases studies are not perfect at telling us about memory. This is because they were poorly controlled and unreliable as both the patients were not tested on their memory abilities before they had experienced brain damage. This means we have no knowledge as to whether their brains were truly damaged or how different they are now. This is a limitation because it means that the case studies are an unreliable source of support for separate stores of LTM which decreases the use of the case studies for support for the different types of memory.

Conflicting research for the different brain areas

A limitation of the types of long term memory is that there are conflicted research findings that link LTM to brain areas. Tulving, when he investigated types of LTM, found that the semantic memory store was located in the left hemisphere of the prefrontal cortex and episodic memory was located in the right hemisphere of the prefrontal cortex. However, other research from Buckner and Petersen found that semantic memory was located in the right hemisphere of the prefrontal cortex and episodic memory was in the left hemisphere. This then conflicts with Tulving’s original research. This is a limitation because it challenges the original neurophysiological evidence to support types of long term memory.

real world application strength

A strength of types of long term memory is that it allows psychologists to help people with memory problems, so it has implications for the world of psychological therapy. People age and experience memory loss and this seems to be specific to episodic memory, and this can deteriorate into semantic and procedural memory in diseases like dementia. Trained psychologists can use the information about the types of long term memory to improve episodic memories in older people. Participants can then be trained in interventions, and it was found by Belleville et al. that the trained participants performed better on a memory test than the control group. This is a strength because the knowledge that types of long term memory gives us can be applied to specific treatments.

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