episodic and semantic memory

• Tulving (1972) made the distinction between episodic and semantic memory
• episodic memory is described as a mental diary
• episodic memory receives and stores information about experiences or events that occur at a time in our life
• episodic memories are linked to time and context
• semantic memory is described as a mental encyclopedia
• semantic memory stores facts and information about the world, such as the names of countries and the capital of each country
• semantic memory stores words, facts, rules, meanings and concepts as an organized body of knowledge
• semantic memories are associated with other facts that link the concepts together without autobiographical association
• memories about events are linked to the time at which they occurred
• semantic memory is detached from any temporal link, factual info can be recalled without reference to when it was learned
• input into episodic memory is continuous as we experience a whole episode in some temporal frame of reference such as a birthday party
• semantic memories can be input in a fragmentary way
• we can piece factual info together that has been learned at different points of time
• recall of episodic memory is dependent on the context in which the was initially learned or experienced, it is the context which aids the retrieval of episodic memories
• semantic memory is not dependent of the context in which it is learned so it is assumed that retrieval of semantic memories is not dependent of context to aid recall
• retrieval from semantic memory leaves the memory trace relatively unchanged from its original form, so we can recall a fact without interfering with the knowledge
• Tulving believed that episodic memory was susceptible to transformation
• semantic memory can operate independently of episodic memory
• episodic memory is unlikely to be able to operate without semantic memory as we need to draw on previous knowledge of objects, people and events that occur in order to understand them
• Tulving argued that although the two stores overlap they can be treated as two separate independent stores
• Ostgaard (1987)


  case study of a ten year old by with brain damage. he suffered impairment to both his semantic and episodic memory. he did make educational progress and was able to store info in the his semantic memory. this shows support for the independent memory systems
• case study of KC (1951-2014)

  suffered a LTM impairment and was unable to form or recall any personal events but could recall factual information. this supports the distinction between two separate stores
• Tulving (1985)


  added procedural memory for skills and abilities we learn such as riding a bike
• research into the separate stores is difficult as they cannot be studied in absolute isolation from each other