Episodic Memory Differences

How memories are stored in the brain can be categorised into two main groups, semantic memories and episodic memories. Episodic memories are autobiographical memories of personal events, and semantic memories  are common

According to Levels of Processing framework, developed by Craik and Lockhart (1972), the duration that a memory is held, is determined by the level at which the information is encoded. Episodic memory recall is a cognitive process involved in consolidating the information presented. The ‘depth’ of processing occurring during the encoding of a memory, relates to, how well information is recalled later. To clarify, information that we process semantically (i.e., by its meaning) comprises a deeper level of processing than information we process structurally (i.e., appearance). Thus predicting, the deeper an individual processes information, correlates with the duration a memory trace will last. Consequently, memory is a by-product

Semantic memory is the second type of long-term memory. It is a part of declarative memory that acquires the basic knowledge and facts about the world. Unlike episodic memory which represents a person’s personal experience that involves emotion and feeling, the semantic memory represents all of the factual knowledge that one person acquires over a lifetime and it is not related to the emotion or feeling, it is just the facts and knowledge that count. Next, there is a wide range of semantic memory from knowledge of words and its meaning, all kind of concepts and the basic facts about the world such as knowing the birds can fly, the color of grass is green, the USA stands for the United State of America and what is skipping rope. Another example

Definition: Episodic memory is a memory type that involves mental time travel, which is the experience of traveling back in time in your memory story to re-picture the evented that happened in the past.

Episodic memory performance can be enhanced by emotional arousal, and, interestingly, this effect is often greater after longer ( 24 hr) retention delays than after shorter ones (Kleinsmith & Kaplan, 1963; Sharot & Yonelinas, 2007; Walker & Tarte, 1963). These findings demonstrate that emotion can influence slow, offline memory-consolidation processes, and suggest that these processes may be sleep dependent.

Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events experienced at a particular time and place.

Taking in the research and knowledge of episodic memory mentioned earlier in this paper, it is easier to determine the answer of the argument between Joan and John. Joan and John are in a romantic relationship, and have been in the relationship a long time. However, they get into an argument relating to the question Herlitz and Rehnman challenged: Does one’s sex affect his or her ability to remember day to day events? Joan believes women have better memory; whereas, John believes men have better memory.

The notion of an episodic and semantic memory as part of a category of memory is one that is one that has had copious amounts of research and is a mental phenomenon in which information is encoded, stored and retrieved. The process of memory affects every aspect of our daily lives and has led to much neurological and cognitive research, as well as behavioural and psychoanalytical, amongst other theories, and an equivalent amount of research has been spent into finding out the extent of how damages to processes of memory affect us on a daily basis. Failure of memory can normally result from failure to adequately store the memory in the first place, failure to retain the information and failure to retrieve the information later on. Neuro-imaging studies using techniques such as MRI and post-mortem work have shown that structural abnormalities in brain regions such as the frontal lobes, amygdala and cerebellum and also lesioning of the hippocampus in a connectionist model results in a similar temporal gradient in memory retrieval to that seen in amnesic patients with hippocampal damage (Alvarez and Squire, 1994). The distinctions between areas of memory is complex and commonly disputed, likely consisting of multiple areas and categories however in this essay I will be focusing on semantic and episodic memory, as distinctive categories of memory. In order to discuss the distinction between episodic and semantic memory, we must first look into each one individually

Memory is the faculty of the brain that stores information for later recall, it is the brain function that allows us as humans to learn and remember information. Brain function is prevalently influenced by gender in many aspects; contrasting performance between male and females in various memory tasks has been observed in numerous studies over time (Andreano & Cahill 2009). Men forgetting important dates such as birthdays or an anniversary and women not remembering their way to a certain place or address is a very stereotypical view of gender differences in memory (Hermann, Crawford & Holdsworth 1992). However, various studies have in fact shown there is a significant relationship between gender and the ability for one’s mind to store and remember information (Andreano & Cahill 2009). For example remembering certain experiences and specific events including memory of times, places and associated emotions, as well as visuospatial processing relating to the visual perception of spatial relationships among objects (e.g. remembering the way out of a maze) (Andreano & Cahill 2009). Researchers have discovered that women consistently excel in memory tasks requiring verbal episodic memory, whereas men typically outperform women in visuospatial, non-linguistic related tasks (Herlitz and Rehnman 2008). Some studies have also found that when both verbal and visuospatial processing is required differences result in the favour of women (Herlitz & Rehnman 2008). This topic will be

The skill to remember the people, events, and locations come across the path of everyday life is a primary structure of cognition that shows behavior. The aggravation dealt with in problems (school, friends in the halls or work, coworkers in the break room) provides as a concise reminder of our reliance on memory. Long-term memory storage system is characterized by long duration, large capacity, and accessibility. “Over the years, several different types of long-term memory have been distinguished, including explicit and implicit memory, declarative and nondeclarative memory (with further subdivision of declarative memory in episodic and semantic memory.” (Mastin. 1) Long term memory can store an incredible amount of information over an extensive period. Long term memory is everything we remember that occurred just minutes ago. Long term memories can be kept for a few days or many years. Although we may forget things every day, it is possible that long-term memory essentially perishes as the years go by and can accumulate a limitless amount of information without stopping. Many can argue if we in fact forget something at all, or it just becomes gradually harder to recover things from our memory.

Episodic memory represents memories of experiences and specific events in time in a serial form, from which one can reconstruct the actual events that took place at any given point in our lives. It is the memory of autobiographical events (times, places, associated emotions and other contextual knowledge) that can be explicitly stated. Individuals tend to see themselves as actors in these events, and the emotional charge and the entire context surrounding an event is usually part of the memory, not just the bare facts of the event itself. The brain is the center of the memories, and it receives information about experiences in random manner until the data is brought back up or a specific memory itself. Memory is the ‘glue’, in effect, that holds intellectual processes together, from perception, attention, and language, to reasoning, decision-making, and problem solving (Richardson-Klavehn and Bjork 2005). Memory also plays a critical role in social and emotional functioning, because it is a sense of whom one is and other people are from factual and autobiographical information in memories(Richardson-Klavehn and Bjork 2005). Forgetting is also a part of memory.

The first one is the episodic memory which is related to personal experiences while the second one is the semantic memory which is knowledge of words, concepts, symbols and objects. Surprisingly, cognitive researchers believe that short- term memory is a reflection of long-term memory. However, others argue that these two types of memory function differently.

Tulving (1972) drew a distinction between episodic memory which contains a record of personally experienced events that have happened to us, and semantic memory which contains our general knowledge of the world and is more abstract in form.

Memories can be described as a person’s recollection of events in everyday life. Everyone has the ability to recall information stored in the brain. (Tulving, 2002) is an experimental psychologist who carried out his theories through controlled laboratory studies. He carried out tests on participants, asking them to recall words they had studied and by doing this he was able to distinguish what is known as declarative memory, which refers to the two main types of long term memory held, known as semantic and episodic memory. Semantic memory refers to an individual’s general knowledge of facts and ideas, as well as culture and experience. An example would be to know what a dog is and what category to put it in. Whereas an example of episodic

Memory is divided into two categories based on how long the information is accessible: short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory refers to remembering a small amount of information for several seconds to a few minutes (Staniloiu & Markowitsch, 2012). Long-term memory refers to the storage and retrieval of memories over a long period of time (days, weeks, months or years) Long-term memory includes several subcategories which