What is Semantic Memory?
Semantic memory is the portion of long term memory which is concerned with ideas, meanings, and concepts which are not related to personal experiences. Together with episodic memory, it makes up the section of the long term memory known as declarative memory. The long term memory also includes procedural memory, which is the memory of how to do things. These three different kinds of long term memory all interact with each other to allow people to do everything from reading a book to flying a space shuttle. This type of memory is concerned with independent facts, such as what a refrigerator is, along with concepts which may be more difficult to define. By contrast, episodic memory involves events of personal relevance, such as the name of the next door neighbor’s child. An example of semantic memory would be a discussion with someone in which he or she mentions owning a cat. Rather than recalling a specific episodic memory of a cat, someone can pull up the semantic definition of a cat t
