Case 2: Long-term memory and consolidation
, Source 1: Gluck M.A., Mercado, E., Myers, C. Learning and memory: From brain to behavior. 3rd
edition. Worth Publishers, NY. 2016. Chapter 7: Episodic and semantic memory, p267-298
Episodic memory:
Memory for specific autobiographical events; it includes information about the spatial and temporal
contexts in which the event occurred. Episodic memory is what we “remember,”
Semantic memory:
Memory for facts or general knowledge about the world, including general personal information.
Semantic memory is what we ‘’know’’.
Features of episodic and semantic memories:
-Both memories can be communicated flexibly, in formats different from the way they were
originally acquired. Skill memories are generally not easy to communicate flexibly in the same way
that episodic and semantic memories are.
-Both are consciously accessible, when someone asks you about a specific fact or event, you know
whether you know the answer or recall the event.
-Both memories are grouped in the term ‘’’declarative memory’’ reflecting the fact that it is easy to
verbalize or declare your knowledge. The term explicit memory can also be used to refer to the
conscious accessibility of episodic and semantic information
-Episodic memory concern specific events that occurred at a particular place and time: you must
remember when and where those events occurred. Semantic memories involve factual information:
only the fact itself.
-Episodic memory is always autobiographical, in the sense that the event must have happened to
you. In contrast, semantic memory can be personal but it can also be general factual information
-Some memories can straddle the line and become one of the 2 types of memories(episodic or
semantic) depending on the specific situation.
- Repeated exposures to a single fact strengthen semantic memory for that fact by contrast, repeated
exposure to very similar events may weaken episodic memory for any one of those events.
, Source 1: Gluck M.A., Mercado, E., Myers, C. Learning and memory: From brain to behavior. 3rd
edition. Worth Publishers, NY. 2016. Chapter 7: Episodic and semantic memory, p267-298
Episodic memory:
Memory for specific autobiographical events; it includes information about the spatial and temporal
contexts in which the event occurred. Episodic memory is what we “remember,”
Semantic memory:
Memory for facts or general knowledge about the world, including general personal information.
Semantic memory is what we ‘’know’’.
Features of episodic and semantic memories:
-Both memories can be communicated flexibly, in formats different from the way they were
originally acquired. Skill memories are generally not easy to communicate flexibly in the same way
that episodic and semantic memories are.
-Both are consciously accessible, when someone asks you about a specific fact or event, you know
whether you know the answer or recall the event.
-Both memories are grouped in the term ‘’’declarative memory’’ reflecting the fact that it is easy to
verbalize or declare your knowledge. The term explicit memory can also be used to refer to the
conscious accessibility of episodic and semantic information
-Episodic memory concern specific events that occurred at a particular place and time: you must
remember when and where those events occurred. Semantic memories involve factual information:
only the fact itself.
-Episodic memory is always autobiographical, in the sense that the event must have happened to
you. In contrast, semantic memory can be personal but it can also be general factual information
-Some memories can straddle the line and become one of the 2 types of memories(episodic or
semantic) depending on the specific situation.
- Repeated exposures to a single fact strengthen semantic memory for that fact by contrast, repeated
exposure to very similar events may weaken episodic memory for any one of those events.
