Types of long-term memory
Tulving – MSM view of long-term memory was too simplistic and inflexible, he proposed
3 LTM stores, episodic, sematic, and procedural.
Episodic
- Ability to recall memories or events from your own life.
- They are time stamped (remember when they happened)
- Memory includes several elements such as people and places, objects and behaviours all
interwoven to produce a single memory.
- The memories are consciously activated so can be expressed verbally (declarative)
Semantic
- Memories about the knowledge of the world and meanings of words
- These memories aren’t time stamped so we don’t usually remember when we first
heard about it.
- Less personal and more factual.
- Memories are consciously activated so can be expressed verbally (declarative)
- More resistant to forgetting/ amnesia
Procedural
- Memory for actions or skills
- Recall memories unconsciously so are difficult to verbally explain (non-declarative)
- Not time stamped.
- Become automatic through practice, these sorts of skills might be hard to explain to
someone else.
- More resistant to forgetting/ amnesia
EVALUATION
Supporting evidence – case studies of Clive Wearing and Henry Molasion
- Episodic memory in both men was severely impaired due to brain damage, they
struggled to recall events that happened in their pasts. However, their semantic
memories were relatively unaffected. Both men had procedural memories intact (knew
how to walk and talk)
-
Henry Molasion – still knew the meaning of words, wouldn’t be able to recall stroking a
dog half an hour earlier and could not remember having owned one in the past, but he
would never need the concept of dog explained to him repeatedly.
Tulving – MSM view of long-term memory was too simplistic and inflexible, he proposed
3 LTM stores, episodic, sematic, and procedural.
Episodic
- Ability to recall memories or events from your own life.
- They are time stamped (remember when they happened)
- Memory includes several elements such as people and places, objects and behaviours all
interwoven to produce a single memory.
- The memories are consciously activated so can be expressed verbally (declarative)
Semantic
- Memories about the knowledge of the world and meanings of words
- These memories aren’t time stamped so we don’t usually remember when we first
heard about it.
- Less personal and more factual.
- Memories are consciously activated so can be expressed verbally (declarative)
- More resistant to forgetting/ amnesia
Procedural
- Memory for actions or skills
- Recall memories unconsciously so are difficult to verbally explain (non-declarative)
- Not time stamped.
- Become automatic through practice, these sorts of skills might be hard to explain to
someone else.
- More resistant to forgetting/ amnesia
EVALUATION
Supporting evidence – case studies of Clive Wearing and Henry Molasion
- Episodic memory in both men was severely impaired due to brain damage, they
struggled to recall events that happened in their pasts. However, their semantic
memories were relatively unaffected. Both men had procedural memories intact (knew
how to walk and talk)
-
Henry Molasion – still knew the meaning of words, wouldn’t be able to recall stroking a
dog half an hour earlier and could not remember having owned one in the past, but he
would never need the concept of dog explained to him repeatedly.
