Memory
Semantic and Episodic Memory
Robinson-Reigler and Robinson-Reigler (2008) summarize Tulving when they note that there are two different kinds of long-term memory: episodic an semantic. Episodic memory refers to those events that one has personally experienced. Within an episodic memory can be memories of feelings, people, events, objects, sensations, and anything else that relates to a personally experienced memory. An example of an episodic memory would be a person's memory of their wedding, a birthday party, or a Tuesday afternoon dinner with friends. When one remembers an episodic memory, one can "place [themselves] there" because of the "strong feeling of recollection" a semantic memory, on the other hand, is simply knowledge that has no personal episodes inherent in it; no recollection takes place. For instance, knowing that the speed limit of a certain highway is 55 miles-per-hour, that the capital of France is Paris, and that the Beatles once controversially declared themselves to be bigger than Jesus, are all semantic memories. The difference between episodic and semantic memory might seem quite clear, but it can often be tricky to discern. For instance, you may have a memory of a taking a test in your ninth grade English class and answering that Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. Your memory of the test and the class is an episodic memory, while your memory of the fact that Shakespeare wrote Hamlet is a semantic memory.
Episodic and Semantic memory have other features that make them important to the study of long-term memory. Episodic memories are more prone to being forgotten because one looses one's sense of recollection over time, while semantic memories resist this. Additionally, some argue that semantic and episodic memories come from very different types of memory processes, while others suggest they are quite similar. Thus, understanding the difference between episodic and semantic memory and their implications is quite important to the study of long-term memory.
References
Robinson-Riegler, G. And Robinson-Rielgler, B. (2008). Cognitive Psychology: Apllying
the Science of the Mind. Second Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education.
