Tulving's Gold Memory Study

Endel Tulving is one of the most influential cognitive neuroscientists in the study of memory. His research using PET scans (Positron Emission Tomography) provided some of the first brain imaging evidence that different types of long-term memory are processed by different brain regions, supporting the distinction between episodic and semantic memory.

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Background

Tulving had previously proposed (1985) that long-term memory consists of different types — episodic memory (personal events), semantic memory (facts and knowledge), and procedural memory (skills). He used brain imaging to test whether these different types of memory involve different brain regions.

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Tulving's PET Scan Study (1989)

Aim

To investigate whether episodic and semantic memory are associated with activity in different brain regions.

Method