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How do we classify memory?
\nCognitive psychologists distinguish between\u00a0declarative memory\u00a0and\u00a0non-declarative memory. Non-declarative memories are expressed without conscious recollection, such as skills and habits like typing on a keyboard or riding a bike.<\/p>\n
But memories you\u2019re consciously aware of are declarative \u2013 you know your name, you know what year it is, and you know there is mustard in the fridge because you put it there.<\/p>\n
However, not all of our memories are stored in the same way, nor in the same place in our brains. Declarative memory can be further broken down into\u00a0semantic memory\u00a0and\u00a0episodic memory.<\/p>\n
Semantic memory\u00a0refers to general knowledge about the world. For example, knowing that cats are mammals.<\/p>\n
Episodic memory\u00a0refers to episodes of your life, typically with elements of \u201cwhat\u201d, \u201cwhere\u201d and \u201cwhen\u201d. For example, I remember cuddling my pet cat (what) in my home office (where) just before sitting down to write this article (when).<\/p>\n
A\u00a0sense of self-awareness\u00a0is strongly involved in episodic memory. It\u2019s the feeling of personally remembering.<\/p>\n
For semantic memories, this sense is not as strong \u2013 you can have detached knowledge without the context of \u201chow\u201d and \u201cwhen\u201d. For instance, I know that Canberra is the capital city of Australia (semantic memory), yet I can\u2019t remember specifically when and where I learnt this (episodic memory).<\/p>\n
Lessons from amnesia
\nIn the mid-20th century, famous case studies of amnesic patients were the early evidence of this distinction between semantic and episodic memory.<\/p>\n
For example,\u00a0Henry Molaison\u00a0and\u00a0Kent Cochrane\u00a0both experienced brain damage that severely impacted their episodic memory abilities.<\/p>\n
They couldn\u2019t recall events from their lives, but knew many things about the world in general. In effect, their personal past had vanished, even though their general knowledge remained intact.<\/p>\n
In one interview after the accident that caused his brain damage, Cochrane was able to\u00a0describe how to change a flat tire\u00a0in perfect detail \u2013 despite not remembering having ever done this task.<\/p>\n
There have also been\u00a0reports of cases\u00a0of people whose ability to recall semantic memories is largely impaired, while their episodic memory abilities\u00a0seem mostly fine. This is known as\u00a0semantic dementia.<\/p>\n
Your age affects how your memory works
\nYoung children\u00a0have both memory systems, but they develop at different rates. The capacity to form strong semantic memories comes first, while episodic memory takes longer.<\/p>\n
In fact, true episodic memory ability may not\u00a0fully develop\u00a0until around the age of three or four years. This helps explain why you have scant memories of your earliest childhood. We gain greater self-awareness around the same age too.<\/p>\n
While episodic memory ability develops more slowly in early life, it also declines more quickly in old age. On average, older adults tend to\u00a0remember fewer episodic details\u00a0compared to younger adults in memory recall assessments.<\/p>\n
In older adults with more severe cognitive decline, such as\u00a0dementia, the ability to recall episodic memories is typically\u00a0much more affected, compared to semantic memories. For example, they might have difficulty remembering they had pasta for lunch the day before (episodic memory), while still having perfect knowledge of what pasta is (semantic memory).<\/p>\n
Ultimately, it all works together
\nBrain imaging studies\u00a0have actually revealed that overlapping areas of the brain are active when recalling both semantic and episodic types of memories. In a neurological sense, these two types of memory appear to have more similarities than differences.<\/p>\n
In fact,\u00a0some have suggested\u00a0episodic and semantic memory might be better thought of as a\u00a0continuum\u00a0rather than as completely distinct memory systems. These days, researchers acknowledge memory recall in everyday life involves tight interaction between both types.<\/p>\n
A major example of how you need both types to work together is autobiographical memory, also called\u00a0personal semantics. This refers to personally relevant information about yourself.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s say you call yourself \u201ca good swimmer\u201d. At first glance, this may appear to be a semantic memory \u2013 a fact without the how, why, or when. However, recall of such a personally relevant fact will likely also produce related recall of episodic experiences when you\u2019ve been swimming.<\/p>\n
All this is related to something known as\u00a0semanticisation\u00a0\u2013 the gradual transformation of episodic memories into semantic memories. As you can imagine, it challenges the distinction between semantic and episodic memory.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, how we remember shapes how we understand ourselves. Episodic memory allows us to mentally return to experiences that feel personally lived, while semantic memory provides the stable knowledge that binds those experiences into a coherent life story.<\/p>\n
Over time, the boundary between the two softens as specific events are condensed into broader beliefs about who we are, what we value, and what we can do. Memory is not simply a storehouse of the past. It\u2019s an active system that continually reshapes our sense of identity.<\/p>\n
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(theconversation.com)<\/p>\n
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