Editing Semantic memory (section)

{{short description|Type of memory referring to general world knowledge}}
{{semantics}}

'''Semantic memory''' refers to general world [[knowledge]] that humans have accumulated throughout their lives.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McRae |first1=Ken |title=The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Psychology |last2=Jones |first2=Michael |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195376746 |editor1-last=Reisberg |editor1-first=Daniel |location=New York, NY |pages=206–216 |chapter=Semantic Memory |chapter-url=https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=psychologypub}}</ref> This [[general knowledge]] ([[Semantics|word meaning]]s, [[concept]]s, facts, and ideas) is intertwined in experience and dependent on [[culture]]. New concepts are learned by applying knowledge learned from things in the past.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saumier |first1=D. |last2=Chertkow |first2=H. |year=2002 |title=Semantic Memory |journal=Current Science |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=516–522 |doi=10.1007/s11910-002-0039-9 |pmid=12359106 |s2cid=14184578}}</ref>

Semantic memory is distinct from [[episodic memory]]—the memory of experiences and specific events that occur in one's life that can be recreated at any given point.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tulving|first1=Endel|title=Episodic Memory: From Mind to Brain|journal=Annual Review of Psychology|date=2002|volume=53|pages=1–25|doi=10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135114|pmid=11752477}}</ref> For instance, semantic memory might contain information about what a cat is, whereas episodic memory might contain a specific memory of stroking a particular cat.

Semantic memory and episodic memory are both types of [[explicit memory|explicit memory (or declarative memory)]], or memory of facts or events that can be consciously recalled and "declared".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Squire|first1=L|date=1992|title=Declarative and Nondeclarative Memory: Multiple Brain Systems Supporting Learning and Memory|journal=Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience|volume=4|issue=3|pages=232–243|doi=10.1162/jocn.1992.4.3.232|pmid=23964880|s2cid=15095727|url=http://direct.mit.edu/jocn/article-pdf/4/3/232/1932203/jocn.1992.4.3.232.pdf}}</ref> The counterpart to declarative or explicit memory is [[implicit memory]] (also known as nondeclarative memory).<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Tulving | first1 = E. | last2 = Schacter | first2 = D.L. | year = 1990 | title = Priming and human memory systems. Bum | journal = Science | volume = 247 | issue = 4940| pages = 301–306 | doi=10.1126/science.2296719 | pmid=2296719| bibcode = 1990Sci...247..301T | s2cid = 40894114 }}</ref>