Long term memory

tulving 1985

proposed that there were 3 long term memory stores and that the MSM was too simplistic

2 categories of long term memory

declarative/explicit and non-declarative/implicit

declarative/explicit

involves some degree of conscious effort to remember

non-declarative/implicit

you can remember without conscious effort

three types of memory

semantic, episodic, procedural

declarative/explicit memory types

semantic and episodic

non-declarative/implicit memory types

procedural

semantic memory

memory that stores facts and knowledge. e.g the capital of a country

episodic

memory that stores events - they're 'time-stamped', you remember what happened and when. e.g your first day at school

procedural

memory that stores actions or skills. it becomes automatic with practice. e.g playing the piano

research support for LTM memory types - clive wearing

had amnesia due to his hippocampus being damaged. he can remember how to play the piano but can't recall his education in music. his procedural memory was unaffected, whereas episodic was affected. however his semantic memory was also fairly unaffected as he could remember concepts like dog, but not his children's names.

research support for LTM memory types - HM

had his hippocampus removed. he couldn't remember stroking a dog but he knew what a dog was. therefore his episodic memory was affected while his semantic wasn't

real life application of LTM memory types

it can help psychologists better understand memory & help people with memory problems.

example of real life application of LTM memory types - belleville et al 2006

found that trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training compared to the control group.
research shows that episodic memory is most affected by ageing, the older you get the harder it is to recall recent events.

limitation of research for LTM memory types - case studies

many of the supporting research are case studies (clive wearing and HM). this means that there is a lack of control variables, meaning scientists don't know how good their memory was before their memory loss and therefore cannot compare their memory before and after damage/hippocampus removal. therefore it lacks internal validity