Semantic memory is a type of long-term memory that deals with ideas and concepts not related to personal experiences. It works alongside episodic and procedural memory to enable people to do everything from reading a book to piloting a space shuttle. It is particularly active in infancy and plays a role in many human activities. Damage to any part of memory can cause confusion and distress.
Semantic memory is the part of long-term memory that deals with ideas, meanings, and concepts that are not related to personal experiences. Along with episodic memory, it makes up the section of long-term memory known as declarative memory. Long-term memory also includes procedural memory, which is memory for how to do things. These three different types of long-term memory work together to enable people to do everything from reading a book to piloting a space shuttle.
This type of memory involves independent facts, such as what a refrigerator is, along with concepts that may be more difficult to pin down. In contrast, episodic memory involves events of personal significance, such as the name of the neighbor’s child. An example of semantic memory might be a discussion with someone where they mention owning a cat. Rather than recalling a specific episodic memory of a cat, someone can come up with the semantic definition of a cat to figure out what the other person is talking about.
It may take several exposures to an idea or concept for a definition to be retained in semantic memory. This type of memory can also become confused during the early stages of learning, such as when someone struggles to figure out that two radically different styles of chairs are both considered chairs, even figuring out the difference between a chair and a bench. This type of memory is particularly active in infancy, as children are constantly encountering new concepts that need to be defined and stored in semantic memory.
Semantic memory also plays a role in many human activities. For example, procedural memory provides information about how to read a newspaper, but it is semantic memory that remembers what different letters mean and how they relate to each other in words. It also allows a reader to understand communications written in multiple characters, as the brain understands the concept of a letter, rather than a specific example of a letter.
People are constantly using the information stored in their long-term memory to deal with a wide variety of situations, from totally new situations like learning to fly an airplane to routine events like taking a shower. Damage to any part of memory can cause confusion and distress, as the brain can have trouble putting a task or event into context without the assistance of long-term memory.
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