Memory & Cognition - Special Issue: Rethinking the Distinction between Episodic and Semantic Memory
Guest Edited by: Felipe De Brigard, Sharda Umanath & Muireann Irish
Traditionally, episodic and semantic memory have been considered as two independent cognitive systems. Tulving suggested that episodic and semantic memories are governed by a set of distinct principles including mode of references (autobiographical vs. cognitive) and retrieval characteristics (remembering vs. knowing). The functional distinction between episodic and semantic memory gained wide acceptance and has influenced a variety of fields of research. Tulving’s powerful framework guided understanding of age-related decline in memory, memory distortion, categorization, event segmentation, and even language processing. However, in the past two decades, numerous findings have put in doubt the clear-cut nature of this distinction. In fact, a number of recent developments in the science of memory, both empirical and theoretical, strongly suggest that, contrary to the traditional view, episodic and semantic memory may not be as distinct as once thought.
Presented here are articles that explore these ideas:
Felipe De Brigard
A conceptual space for episodic and semantic memory (this opens in a new tab)
David Rubin
Mariam Hovhannisyan
Narratives bridge the divide between distant events in episodic memory (this opens in a new tab)
Brendan Cohn-Sheehy
Jennifer Coane
Effects of category learning strategies on recognition memory (this opens in a new tab)
Kevin O’Neill
Katherine McNeely-White
Charles Davis
The ERP correlates of self-knowledge in ageing (this opens in a new tab)
Louis Renoult
Heather Bailey
Mary Whatley
Olivier Jeunehomme
Muireann Irish
Albert Postma
Episodic-semantic interactions in spontaneous thought (this opens in a new tab)
Magda Jordão