Memory Mag | Page 3

There are 3 types of memory:

Episodic memories are constituted by episodic details that represent moments of a specific

past experience and is associated with autonoetic (self-knowing) consciousness. This allows

for an individual to be aware of their own identity and exsistence, which includes a timeline

of the past, present, and future. This can be impaired or lost without impairing or losing other

types of consciousness. Essentially, episodic memory is specific personal events and their

context.

Procedural Memory allows for organisms to retain connections learned between stimuli

and responses and also to respond adaptively to the environment. Only direct expression is

possible in his type of memory. Procedural memory is also associated with anoetic

(nonknowing) consciousness, which refers to an organism's capability to sense and react

to external and internal stimulation.

Semantic Memory allows for the internal representation of states of the world that

cannot be actively judged in the present. This essentially allows for organisms to build

mental models of the world, which can be manipulated independently of

any other behavior. Semantic memory is also associated with noetic (knowing) consciousness,

which makes the introspective awareness of the internal and external world possible. Young

children, or those with brain damage, may lack episodic memory and

autonoetic consciouness, but can have this type of consciousness completely intact.

Essentially, semantic memory is general knowledge about the world.

This diagram clearly illustrates the three types of memory through various

everyday activies.