Over time memories can lose their episodic elements but retain semantic ones.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Memory for experiences that feels like you are reliving such an experience (i.e recalling life events that have a storyline). Involves "mental time travel".

Episodic memory

Memory of facts (i.e. recalling the president of the US) that is not associated with a particular time or context. 

Semantic memory

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

A defining aspect of what makes a memory episodic. It is the experience of "going back in time" to past events in memory 

Mental time travel

Autobiographical memory, which is sometimes used interchangeably with episodic memory, refers to memory for specific life events. These memories can contain both episodic elements (the experience of the event) and semantic elements (facts about the event). For example, remembering a birthday party involves an episodic memory of the event itself, while knowing you received a specific gift is a personal semantic memory.

Autobiographical memory

Semanticization of remote memories

Tulving suggests that memory of previous events, termed “episodic memory,” is different from “semantic memory” that is used for facts (p. 121-122). Retrieval of episodic memory requires remembering something consciously, while retrieval of semantic memory requires knowledge of information separate from personal experiences. Some amnesiac patients have difficulty accessing episodic memory, but are able to develop semantic knowledge (p. 122).

Episodic vs. Semantic Memory

A person's memory for a specific, personally experienced event, which includes the feeling of mentally traveling back in time to re-experience it, is a distinct type of long-term memory. Which of the following statements best illustrates this type of memory?

Which of the following statements best describes episodic memory?

When a research participant recounts a personal life event with a detailed storyline and describes a feeling of 'mental time travel' as if reliving the experience, they are demonstrating _______ memory.

Living things are identified using sensory objects and artifacts by functions. This leads to the conclusion that our ability to differentiate artifacts and living things comes from our semantic memory (which has a system for distinguishing sensory attributes and another for functions).

Sensory-functional (S-F) hypothesis

A form of memory loss where knowledge of all concepts is affected (regardless of category). Patients are typically equally bad at distinguishing living things and animals.

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