Daniel D. answered • 10/08/20
Knowledgeable and Passionate, Specializing in PSYCH and Liberal Arts
An example of episodic memory related to driving a car? Here are a few examples and some contrasts with semantic memory.
Episodic:
1.) You get a ticket in the mail, it's for $150! You curse at it, but then you remember the moment you ran a red-light last week on Esplanade Avenue. This is episodic because it is the rememberance of a specific event.
2.) You crashed into a ditch years ago and recalling that day you remember that it was raining. The memory of that incident, the car crash, the rain, that is all part of an episodic memory.
3.) A friend asks for you to drive and meet them at St. Louis st, and you remember where that is because during Mari Gras you remember meeting some new friends on that street--you remember seeing St. Louis street that night, you also remember the friend's faces, and other details of that memory-snapshot.
Semantic:
A semantic example would be--a mechanic asks you how many miles are on your car and you reply "About 100,000." You don't remember specifically looking at the pedometer to get that number, but for some reason you remember the fact that your mileage is around 100,000. Semantic memory isn't about snapshots of events but of remembered knowledge without a clear incident at its source.
