The finding that certain amnesiacs have impaired episodic LTM but preserved semantic LTM (or vice-versa) suggests that:
A) LTM is always damaged in amnesia
B) STM is not an important memory system
C) episodic and semantic LTM are distinct from one another
D) episodic and semantic LTM are really different processing modes of the same memory system

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fact that certain amnesiacs exhibit selective impairment in either episodic or semantic LTM but not both suggests that these two types of LTM are distinct from one another. This is consistent with the view that episodic LTM involves memory for personal experiences and specific events, while semantic LTM involves memory for general knowledge and concepts. Additionally, the finding of selective impairment in these amnesiacs suggests that LTM is not always uniformly impaired in amnesia, as choice A suggests. There is no information in the question to support choice B, and the suggestion that episodic and semantic LTM are different processing modes of the same memory system, as stated in choice D, is not consistent with the idea that they are distinct from one another.

The Finding That Certain Amnesiacs Have Impaired Episodic LTM but Preserved