types of long term memory

A01

  • suggestions of at least three types

  • semantic, episodic , procedural

  • Episodic- explicit memory which includes memories from personal experiences such as first day of school. Three elements - details of event, context and emotions which are interwoven. Strength of episodic memories is determined by strength of emotions experienced when memory is coded and a conscious effort is required to retrieve them

  • Semantic - explicit memory which includes, which included memory knowledge facts, concepts and meaning about the world around us. These memories are not time stamped or linked to an event

  • Procedural- implicit memory which includes memory of how to perfomance certain tasks actions or skills. Squired through repetition and practise

A03

Strength - support from brain scans

Different parts of the brain are active when accessing episodic, semantic and procedural memories

  • episodic associated with hippocampus and temporal lobe

  • Semantic associated with temporal lobe

  • Procedural are associated with the cerebellum and motor cortex

Suggests that different brain regions are responsible for different types of LTM supporting ideas that LTM is made up of at least three distinct categories

Strength- Clive wearing

Suffered brain damage and has servely impaired episodic memory- cannot recall events. However his procedural memory remains intact- he can still play piano

Shows that memories are stored different within the brain

Limitiation- case study

Much evidence comes from rare,unique cases

Brain damage differs between individuals so findings from individual may not apply to general population

  • low population validity- weakens overall conclusion , limits how confidently we can accept LTM types

Strength - real world application

Understanding different types of memory allowed development of application.

  • bevelled et al compared performance of older people suffering with mild cognitive impairment who received memory training with that of a control group who did not. Out was found that participant in the experimental group performed better on a test of episodic training

  • Suggests that being able to identify different types of LTM can provide psychologists with opportunity to improve peoples lives through devising appropriate treatments to help problems associated with age related memory impairment