Episodic Memory

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Episodic Memory

Basic Characteristics

  • Description

Episodic memory is a memory that contains the detailed sequence of events that constitute an experience and the spatial and temporal context in which the experience occurred, such as the time, place and associated emotion. The part of the brain used in episodic memory is the medial temporal lobe, especially the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex. Episodic memory is often discussed in connection with semantic memory in order to create declarative memory. There are various views that describe how the episodic and semantic memory is connected. One view is that episodic memories are converted from episodic memories into semantic memories over time. And when this occurs most of the particular information becomes generalized. There have been studies that show that episodic memory can be affected by age, gender and emotion. Deficits in episodic memory are associated with various mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

  • History

Endel Tulving first introduced the notion of episodic memory after a conference held about memory in 1972. He proposed the distinction between episodic and semantic memory, based upon the influence of Reiff and Scheers, who in 1959, made the distinction between two primary forms of memory; entitled remembrances and other memoria. Tulving’s distinction between episodic memory and semantic memory became widely accepted because it allowed people to understand and conceptualize knowledge in two separate ways.

  • References

Eichenbaum, 2001. The hippocampus and declarative memory: cognitive mechanisms and neural codes. PMID 11718892

Ranganath et al, 2008. The cognitive neuroscience of memory function and dysfunction in schizophrenia. PMID 18495087

Related Information

  • Indicators (dependent variables, conditions, or contrasts; measurement variables used for analysis) associated with this construct (vote or nominate by editing this page):
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  • CNP Level

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