Verified by Episodic Memory
Episodic memory is a form of long-term memory that captures the details of past events that one has personally experienced. Along with semantic memory, it is considered a kind of explicit memory, because a person is consciously aware of the details that are reproduced.
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Revisiting past experiences through episodic memory is considered a process of reconstruction. Memory traces are formed in the brain based on an experience. Later, a retrieval cue—which can be internal, like a relevant thought, or external, like a sound, a photo, or a specific locale—prompts the brain to bring details of the past experience to consciousness. According to the “encoding specificity principle,” the most effective memory cues are those that match the context of the remembered experience.
Multiple areas of the brain are involved in the storage and retrieval of episodic memories. The brain’s medial temporal lobe, including structures such as the hippocampus, is thought to play a significant role. Other areas, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex, appear to be involved as well.
As with other kinds of memory, a variety of factors, including how much attention is being paid during an experience, could affect the quality of an episodic memory. An episodic memory with which one has a strong emotional association may also be relatively easy to recall.
Children seem to be able to recall episodic memories by around age 4, though this ability continues to develop throughout early childhood. After around age 60, research finds, episodic memory performance tends to decline, and to a greater degree than semantic memory (or general knowledge).
