Personal semantics: at the crossroads of semantic and episodic memory
Open accessAbstract
Declarative memory is usually described as consisting of two systems: semantic and episodic memory. Between these two poles, however, may lie a third entity: personal semantics (PS). PS concerns knowledge of one's past. Although typically assumed to be an aspect of semantic memory, it is essentially absent from existing models of knowledge. Furthermore, like episodic memory (EM), PS is idiosyncratically personal (i.e., not culturally-shared). We show that, depending on how it is operationalized, the neural correlates of PS can look more similar to semantic memory, more similar to EM, or dissimilar to both. We consider three different perspectives to better integrate PS into existing models of declarative memory and suggest experimental strategies for disentangling PS from semantic and episodic memory.
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Individuals may also refer to and make use of abstract knowledge about their lives (personal semantics) including autobiographical facts and self-knowledge when engaging in autobiographical remembering.
“Beside these autobiographical memories in a narrower sense, however, individuals may also refer to and make use of abstract knowledge about their lives (i.e., personal semantics; Renoult et al., 2012) including autobiographical facts (e.g.,”
From Understanding Autobiographical Memory in the Digital Age: The AMEDIA-Model (2024) · cites this paper as Renoult et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Renoult, L., Davidson, P. S. R., Palombo, D. J., Moscovitch, M., & Levine, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Levine, Brian
- Venue
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-11
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 550-558
- ISSN
- 1364-6613 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2079185868
- Cited by
- 391
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP 62963)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (A 8347)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- semantic memory, episodic memory, declarative memory, personal memories, neural correlates, memory models, self-knowledge
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Humans, Memory, Models, Psychological, Neuroimaging
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