Declarative Memory

Declarative Memory
In addition to the short term/long term distinction. Memory researchers make a distinction according to the type of information stored in memory.

Also known as explicit memory, declarative memory is information that requires a conscious effort to recall.

There are two types of declarative memory:
Semantic memory
Episode memory.

Semantic memory is factual knowledge, such as the names of your family members, the color of your spouse’s eyes, or what winter is.

Much of the basic information you acquired during your school days falls into this category.

In addition to being factual, semantic memory has other key characteristics: It is not bounds to a specific point in time.

You can’t point to the moment in time when you learned your mother’s name, for example. And even if you can remember when you learned the multiplication tables or other facts in school, the timing isn’t important to your knowledge of them.

By contrast, episode memory contains the images and details of experiences you have had. Episodic memories are personal memories tied to specific times and places.

The party you attended last weekend , the vacation you took last summer, your children’s birthday celebrations (and their births), and your wedding day are all episodic memories.

Episodic memory is the types of memory that people have trouble with as they age because it is processed through the hippocampus; a brain structure that changes as the years pass and that is particularly vulnerable to degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Although patients with Alzheimer’s are frequently able to recall episodes from many years ago, they have profound difficulty acquired new episodic memories.
Declarative Memory