Evaluation for types of long-term memory
Brain scans
Such research shows the different areas of the brain are active when the different kinds of LTM are activated
Tulving found greater activation in the posterior region of the cortex when receiving semantic information
fMRI scans, Tulving found differences in cortical blood flow patterns between semantic and episodic thinking.
Clive Wearing
His episodic and semantic memories were severely affected but his procedural memory remained intact
Shows that there are different types of LTM
Suffered from a virus that attacked and damaged his hippocampus
Issues with case studies
Studying people with brain injuries can help researchers to understand how memory is supposed to work normally
A major limitation is that they lack control of variables
The brain injuries experienced by participants were usually unexpected
The researcher had no way of controlling what happened to the participants before or during the injury
The researcher has no knowledge of the individual's memory before the damage
Base-line norm
It is difficult to judge exactly how much worse it is afterwards, this lack of control limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM
Limitations- other types of memory
Practical implications
The system of 3 memory stores may not be complete, there may be a 4th
Priming might be a type of automatic memory when we respond to a stimulus
For example we are primed to say 'milk' when we hear 'cow' due to our schemas
automatic learned response (cognitive priming)
Belleville et al (2006) devised an intervention to improve episodic memories in older people
Research has shown this seems to be specific to episodic memory, it becomes harder to recall events and experiences that happened though past episodic memories remain intact
The trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training then a control group
When people age they experience memory loss
This shows that distinguishing between different types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed
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