Episodic memories, semantic memories & the brain
- Episodic memory is part of long-term memory (LTM) that relates to life experiences/episodes or events, for example:
- Your 16th birthday party
- The first time you see the sea
- Spotting your favourite celebrity
- Semantic memory is the part of LTM that involves knowing and recalling facts, concepts and meanings, for example:
- Knowing that Paris is the capital of France
- Knowing that the number 3 is between the numbers 2 and 4
- Knowing that the word 'bank' has two meanings: a place where money is stored, or the edge of a river
- Tulving (1989) proposed that LTM - episodic and semantic - were stored in different places in the brain
- He used a type of PET scan with a gold radioactive tracer
- Tulving’s study is as follows:
- The sample comprised 6 participants, one of whom was Tulving himself and another was his wife
- Each participant was injected with the gold radioactive tracer as is usual for a PET-type scan
- A repeated measures design was used in which participants were asked to recall four episodic memories and four semantic memories
- The active brain areas were then measured using the scanning device for each of the four episodic and each of the four semantic memory sessions
- The results showed that 50% (i.e. 3 out of 6) of the participants showed differences in blood flow depending on whether they were using episodic or semantic memory
- Episodic memories showed greater blood flow in the anterior cortex (the frontal and temporal lobes)
- Semantic memories showed greater blood flow in the posterior cortex (the parietal and occipital lobes)
- Tulving concluded that episodic and semantic memories are stored in different areas of the brain i.e. each type of LTM is localised to specific regions
Exam Tip
This is a NAMED STUDY on the AQA specification which means that you could be asked a specific question about it in the exam.
Evaluation of Tulving’s ‘gold’ memory study
Strengths
- The study used a standardised procedure, clinical, objective methodology and quantitative data, making it reliable
- Tulving’s research has been influential within the field of cognitive neuroscience
Weaknesses
- The small sample size of 6, only half of whom showed differences in the scans, drastically limits the generalisability of the findings
- There is some doubt as to the distinctness of the two different types of memory:
- You recall a holiday in Paris (episodic)
- You know that you went to Paris on holiday (semantic)
- You know that Paris is the capital of France (semantic)
- You recall the lesson in school when you learnt that Paris is the capital of France (episodic)
- In short, one memory could be a mixture of both episodic and semantic memories
Worked example
Here is an example of a question you might be asked on this topic - for AO2.
AO2: You need to apply your knowledge and understanding, usually referring to the ‘stem’ in order to do so (the stem is the example given before the question)
After each featured question there is a ‘model’ answer i.e. one which would achieve top marks in the exam.
Ali has ambitions to be the world boxing champion. He can recall his first ever boxing session which is when he learnt about the seven different types of jabs involved in boxing.
Question: Use the results of Tulving’s ‘gold’ study to explain Ali’s memory of his first boxing session. [4]
Model answer:
- Ali is using episodic memory to recall his first boxing session.
- Alis is using semantic memory when he thinks about the seven types of jabs he learned about in his first boxing session.
- Tulving’s ‘gold’ study concluded that episodic memories are stored at the front of the brain in the anterior cortex so this should be where Ali’s memory of his first lesson should be stored.
- Tulving’s ‘gold’ study concluded that semantic memories are stored at the back of the brain in the posterior cortex so this should be where Ali’s knowledge of the seven boxing jabs should be stored.
