Editing Semantic memory (section)

== History ==
The idea of semantic memory was first introduced following a conference in 1972 between [[Endel Tulving]] and W. Donaldson on the role of organization in human memory. Tulving constructed a proposal to distinguish between [[episodic memory]] and what he termed semantic memory.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Klein|first1=Stanley B|title=Episodic Memory and Autonoetic Awareness|journal=Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience|date=2013|volume=7|issue=3|pages=1–12}}</ref> He was mainly influenced by the ideas of Reiff and Scheers, who in 1959 made the distinction between two primary forms of memory.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reif|first1=R|last2=Scheerer|first2=M|title=Memory and Hypnotic Age Regression: Developmental Aspects of Cognitive Function Explored Through Hypnosis|date=1959|publisher=International Universities Press|location=New York, NY|title-link=age regression in therapy}}</ref> One form was titled ''remembrances'', and the other ''[[memoria]]''. The remembrance concept dealt with memories that contained experiences of an autobiographic index, whereas the ''memoria'' concept dealt with memories that did not reference experiences having an autobiographic index.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ramachandran|first1=V.S.|title=Memory|journal=Encyclopedia of Human Behavior|date=1994|volume=1|pages=137–148}}</ref>

Semantic memory reflects the knowledge of the world, and the term ''general knowledge'' is often used. It holds generic information that is more than likely acquired across various contexts and is used across different situations. According to Madigan in his book titled ''Memory'', semantic memory is the sum of all knowledge one has obtained—vocabulary, understanding of math, or all the facts one knows. In his book titled ''Episodic and Semantic Memory'', Tulving adopted the term ''semantic'' from linguists to refer to a system of memory for "words and verbal symbols, their meanings and referents, the relations between them, and the rules, formulas, or algorithms for influencing them".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tulving|first1=Endel|title=Episodic and Semantic Memory: Organization of Memory|date=1972|publisher=Academic Press|location=New York, NY|pages=382–403|edition=E. Tulving & W. Donaldson}}</ref>

The use of semantic memory differs from episodic memory: semantic memory refers to general facts and meanings one shares with others, while episodic memory refers to unique and concrete personal experiences. Tulving's proposal of this distinction was widely accepted, primarily because it allowed the separate conceptualization of world knowledge.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tulving|first1=Endel|title=Episodic and Semantic Memory|journal=The Social Sciences Citation Index: Citation Classic|date=1987}}</ref> Tulving discusses conceptions of episodic and semantic memory in his book titled ''Précis of Elements of Episodic Memory'',<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tulving|first1=Endel|title=Précis of Elements of Episodic Memory|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|date=1984|volume=7|issue=2|pages=223–268|doi=10.1017/s0140525x0004440x|s2cid=144939774 }}</ref> in which he states that several factors differentiate between episodic memory and semantic memory in ways that include

# the characteristics of their operations,
# the kind of information they process, and
# their application to the real world as well as the memory laboratory.

In 2022, researchers Felipe De Brigard, Sharda Umanath, and [[Muireann Irish]] argued that Tulving conceptualized semantic memory to be different from episodic memory in that "episodic memories were viewed as supported via spatiotemporal relations while information in semantic memory was mediated through conceptual, meaning-based associations".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=De Brigard |first1=Felipe |last2=Umanath |first2=Sharda |last3=Irish |first3=Muireann |date=Apr 2022 |title=Rethinking the distinction between episodic and semantic memory: Insights from the past, present, and future |journal=Memory & Cognition |language=en |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=459–463 |doi=10.3758/s13421-022-01299-x |pmid=35288812 |s2cid=247451519 |issn=0090-502X |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Recent research{{When|date=July 2023}} has focused on the idea that when people access a word's meaning, sensorimotor information that is used to perceive and act on the concrete object the word suggests is automatically activated. In the theory of grounded cognition, the meaning of a particular word is grounded in the sensorimotor systems.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pecher|first1=D|last2=Zwann|first2=R.A.|title=Grounding Cognition: The Role of Perception and Action in Memory, Language, and Thinking|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge}}</ref> For example, when one thinks of a pear, knowledge of grasping, chewing, sights, sounds, and tastes used to encode episodic experiences of a pear are recalled through sensorimotor simulation.

A grounded simulation approach refers to context-specific re-activations that integrate the important features of episodic experience into a current depiction. Such research has challenged previously utilized amodal views. The brain encodes multiple inputs such as words and pictures to integrate and create a larger conceptual idea by using amodal views (also known as [[amodal perception]]). Instead of being representations in modality-specific systems, semantic memory representations had previously been viewed as redescriptions of modality-specific states. Some accounts of category-specific semantic deficits that are amodal remain even though researchers are beginning to find support for theories in which knowledge is tied to modality-specific brain regions. The concept that semantic representations are grounded across modality-specific brain regions can be supported by episodic and semantic memory appearing to function in different yet mutually dependent ways. The distinction between semantic and episodic memory has become a part of the broader scientific discourse. For example, researchers speculate that semantic memory captures the stable aspects of our personality while episodes of illness may have a more episodic nature.<ref name="Ormel2014">{{cite journal|author= Ormel, J., Laceulle, O.M., Jeronimus, B.F. |year=2014|title= Why Personality and Psychopathology Are Correlated: A Developmental Perspective Is a First Step but More Is Needed|journal= European Journal of Personality|volume=28|issue=4|pages=396–98|doi=10.1002/per.1971|s2cid=210187913 |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265162278}}</ref>