Semantic memory

Semantic memory is one of the two types of declarative or explicit memory (our memory of facts or events that is explicitly stored and retrieved). Semantic memory refers to general world knowledge that we have accumulated throughout our lives. This general knowledge (facts, ideas, meaning and concepts) is intertwined in experience and dependent on culture. Semantic memory is distinct from episodic memory, which is our memory of experiences and specific events that occur during our lives, from which we can recreate at any given point. For instance, semantic memory might contain information about what a cat is, whereas episodic memory might contain a specific memory of petting a particular cat. We can learn about new concepts by applying our knowledge learned from things in the past. The counterpart to declarative or explicit memory is procedural memory or implicit memory.

The idea of semantic memory was first introduced following a conference in 1972 between Endel Tulving, of the University of Toronto, and W. Donaldson on the role of organization in human memory. Tulving constructed a proposal to distinguish between episodic memory and what he termed semantic memory. He (Who was influenced?) was mainly influenced by the ideas of Reiff and Scheers, who in 1959 made the distinction between two primary forms of memory. One form was entitled "remembrances", the other "memoria". The remembrance concept dealt with memories that contained experiences of an autobiographic index, whereas the memoria concept dealt with those memories that did not reference experiences having an autobiographic index. Semantic memory reflects our knowledge of the world around us. It holds generic information that is more than likely acquired across various contexts and is used across different situations. According to Madigan in his book titled Memory, semantic memory is the sum of all knowledge one has obtained—whether it be vocabulary, understanding of math, or all the facts one knows. In his book titled "Episodic and Semantic Memory", Endel Tulving adopted the term "semantic" from linguists to refer to a system of memory for "words and verbal symbols, their meanings and referents, the relations between them, and the rules, formulas, or algorithms for influencing them." The use of semantic memory is quite different from that of episodic memory. Semantic memory refers to general facts and meanings one shares with others whereas episodic memory refers to unique and concrete personal experiences. Tulving's proposal of this distinction between semantic and episodic memory was widely accepted, primarily because it allowed the separate conceptualization of knowledge of the world. Tulving discusses conceptions of episodic and semantic memory in his book titled Elements of Episodic Memory. in which he states that several factors differentiate episodic memory and semantic memory differ in ways that include

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