Episodic memory refers to our ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives i.e. memory for personal events. This is compared to a diary, a record of daily happenings e.g. most recent time you visited the dentist.
Episodic memories are more complex than you think...
First of all they are 'time-stamped' - in other words you remember when they happened, recently or last weak or 10 years ago.
Secondly your memory of a single episode will include several elements such as people and places, objects and behaviours, and all of them are interwoven to produce one single memory.
Thirdly, you have to make a conscious effort to recall episodic memories. You may be able to do so quickly but you are still aware that you are searching a memory of what happened of that particular memory.
Semantic memory
This store contains our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and is often compared to being the combination of an encyclopaedia and a dictionary. It includes knowledge of things such as: applying to university, the taste of an orange, what zombies like for dinner and the meaning of words. This last one is important because your semantic memory contains your knowledge of an impressive number of concepts such as 'animals', 'Justin Bieber' and 'love.'
Semantic memories:
These memories aren't 'time-stamped'. E.g. we don't usually remember when we learnt about Justin Bieber
Semantic knowledge is less personal and more about the facts that we all share.
Our semantic memory contains an immense collection of material which, given its nature, is constantly being added in.
Procedural Memory
This is our memory of actions, or skills, or basically how we do things. We can recall these memories without conscious awareness or a great deal of effort. A good example is driving a car. Our ability to do this eventually depends on procedural memory. We can change gear without having to recall how. We indicate left or right at a junction without even realising we have done so.
