Types of Long-Term Memory

Types of Long-Term Memory

1. Endel Tulving

   • There are 3 types of long term memory
   • Semantic
   • Procedural
   • Episodic

2. Episodic memory

   • Time stamped - you know when they happened
   • Memories of important or sentimental events in our lives. Eg: first day at school
   • Require conscious effort for recall

3. Semantic memory

   • Not time stamped - you don't know when you learnt this fact
   • Require conscious effort for recall
   • Knowledge about the world. Eg: names of countries

4. Procedural memory

   • Not time stamped- you don't remember when you learnt it
   • Don't require conscious effort for recall as the actions are automatic
   • Memories of how to do things. Eg: walking or driving

5. A03:

   • STRENGTH: Clive Wearing and HM both suffered from amnesia after a motorcycle incident, their episodic memory was damaged but their semantic and procedural was still intact. This supports the idea that they are different stores of memory as if they were the same one couldn't be damaged without the other
   • STRENGTH: Neuroimaging Evidence - PET scans have proven that different parts of the brain are used for different activities, This supports the idea that all 3 types of long-term memory have different purposes
   • WEAKNESS: Cohen and Squire say that there is actually only two types of long-term memory, the declarative and the non-declarative. The semantic and episodic memory are together in the declarative memory as you need conscious effort to recall them whereas the procedural memory is in the non-declarative memory store as you don't need conscious effort to recall these actions