Types of LTM

types of LTM

procedural, episodic, semantic

episodic memory

•Ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives – like a diary

•Time stamped

•Several elements interwoven to produce a single memory (people, places, objects, behaviours etc.)

•Conscious effort to recall – you have to search for the memory

found in hippocampus

semantic memory

•Our knowledge of the world – a combination of an encyclopedia and a dictionary

•Importantly, this contains meanings of words and knowledge of concepts

•Not time-stamped

•Less personal – more about facts we all share

•Constantly added to

found in temporal lobe

procedural memory

•Memory for actions or skills - how we do things

•Recalled without conscious awareness or a great deal of effort - e.g. driving a car.

•Many occur early in life e.g.  learning important motor skills like walking, dressing etc.

•Also involved in language – we speak automatically without thinking how to use grammar, syntax etc.

•Little conscious thought allows multitasking.

found in cerebellum and motor cortex

Tulving (1985)

a cognitive psychologist who critiqued the multi-store model of memory for being too simplistic. He claimed that instead of one unitary LTM store, there are three separate stores that each contain different information.

declarative knowledge (explicit memory)

episodic and semantic

Memories that are consciously recalled such as facts and verbal knowledge

non-declarative (implicit memory)

procedural

doesn't require conscious thought. It allows you to do things by heart.

issues and debates

nomothetic and idiographic approach