Long-TermMemory - Tulving (1985)

Long-TermMemory - Tulving (1985)

1. Episodic Memory

   • Conscious recall of events in our lives
   • Time-stamped
   • Multiple elements
     • Places
     • People
   • E.g. Disney trip 2008 with family

2. Semantic Memory

   • Knowledge of the world/facts we all share
   • Not time-stamped
   • Impersonal - everyone shares these memories
   • Constantly being added to
   • E.g. knowing who the president is

3. Procedural Memory

   • Actions + Motor skills
   • Unconscious recall
   • Includes automatic responses
   • E.g. knowing how to ride a bike

4. Evaluation

   • Strengths
     • Dr. S (described by Butterworth (2002))
       • Dr. S was a neurologist who hit his head whilst skiing
         • Surprised his wife looked old + didn't recognise younger colleagues
           • Loss of episodic memory
         • Got up and skied down mountain
           • Procedural memory intact
         • In hospital, ordered himself a brain scan and made correct diagnosis of transient global amnesia
           • Semantic memory intact
       • Showed different, independent aspects of LTM
     • Neuroimaging Evidence - Tulving (1994)
       • Pps did different memory tasks whilst using PET scanner
         • Found that episodic & semantic memory in prefrontal cortex
           • Semantic in left
           • Episodic in right
     • Real-life application
       • Psychologist can target certain memories to improve pp lives
         • Beville et al. (2006) found that episodic memories can be improved by training old people with cognitive impairments to focus on their episodic memories
         • Enables specific treatments to be used
     • Clive Wearing
       • Lost episodic memory but retained procedural memory and some semantic memory
         • Shows different stores
   • Limitations
     • Not comprehensive model of memory as only includes LTM