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Related Concept Videos

Explicit Memories01:27

Explicit Memories

Explicit memories, also known as declarative memories, are consciously remembered, recalled, and reported. Studying for a chemistry exam involves material that will become part of explicit memory. There are two types of explicit memory: episodic and semantic.
Episodic memory contains information about personally experienced events and is reported as a story. An example of episodic memory is recalling a birthday celebration. This type of memory includes the what, where, and when of an event, as...
Autobiographical Memory01:14

Autobiographical Memory

Autobiographical memory is a unique type of episodic memory that involves recollecting personal life experiences. It allows individuals to remember significant events from their past, creating a narrative of their lives. One interesting phenomenon related to autobiographical memory is the reminiscence bump. This effect refers to the tendency of adults to recall more events from their second and third decades of life — typically between ages 10 to 30 — than from other periods. This period is...
Flashbulb Memory01:16

Flashbulb Memory

A flashbulb memory is a highly vivid and detailed memory, often linked to events of significant emotional impact. These memories stand out in contrast to everyday memories due to their clarity and the precision with which they are recalled. The strong emotions associated with the event act as a catalyst, ensuring that specific details, such as one's location, actions, and even peripheral elements, are etched into memory with remarkable accuracy. For example, many people can vividly recall where...
Role of Hippocampus in Memory01:19

Role of Hippocampus in Memory

The hippocampus, a critical brain structure, plays an essential role in memory processing, particularly in the formation and retrieval of memory. This small, seahorse-shaped region is located within the medial temporal lobe, with one hippocampus in each brain hemisphere. Experimental studies involving lesions in the hippocampi of rats have demonstrated significant impairments in tasks such as object recognition and maze navigation, indicating the hippocampus involvement in both recognition and...
Traumatic Memory01:20

Traumatic Memory

Emotionally traumatic events often lead to memories that are exceptionally vivid and enduring, sometimes persisting with remarkable clarity throughout an individual's life. A classic example of this phenomenon is a person who survives a car accident. Even years later, they may recall every detail of the event with startling accuracy — the screeching of the tires, the jarring impact, and the acrid smell of burning rubber. Such vividness contrasts sharply with how an individual remembers mundane...
Mnemonic Devices01:23

Mnemonic Devices

Mnemonic devices are cognitive tools that facilitate memory retention by linking new information to familiar patterns or organizational strategies. These techniques are beneficial for remembering complex or lengthy sets of information by simplifying and structuring them in easily retrievable ways.
Acronyms
Acronyms are created by using the initial letters of a series of words to form a new word or phrase. This approach condenses complex information into a single, memorable entity. For example,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 18, 2026

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test
09:13

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test

Published on: May 16, 2017

Episodic memory in animals: remembering which occasion.

Madeline J Eacott1, Alexander Easton

  • 1Dept. of Psychology, Durham University, Science Site, Durham, UK. m.j.eacott@durham.ac.uk

Neuropsychologia
|November 17, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Episodic memory, recalling past events, may not be unique to humans. New definitions and animal studies suggest the hippocampus is crucial for this memory type.

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Assessment of Memory Function in Pilocarpine-induced Epileptic Mice
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Assessment of Memory Function in Pilocarpine-induced Epileptic Mice

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 18, 2026

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test
09:13

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test

Published on: May 16, 2017

Assessment of Memory Function in Pilocarpine-induced Epileptic Mice
13:34

Assessment of Memory Function in Pilocarpine-induced Epileptic Mice

Published on: June 4, 2020

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Animal Behavior

Background:

  • Episodic memory, the ability to recall specific past events, was historically considered a uniquely human trait.
  • Recent research across various species challenges this notion, prompting a re-evaluation of episodic memory's nature and its evolutionary basis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review tasks designed to assess episodic-like memory in animals.
  • To propose a refined definition of episodic memory focusing on "what, where, and when" (specific occasion) rather than solely temporal information.
  • To examine the neural underpinnings of episodic memory and its relationship with other memory systems.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies employing episodic-like memory tasks in non-human animals.
  • Analysis of task requirements to identify memory for specific past occasions.
  • Synthesis of findings regarding the role of the hippocampal system in episodic memory.

Main Results:

  • Episodic-like tasks in animals demonstrate their capacity to remember specific past events.
  • A proposed definition emphasizes memory for "what happened where on a specific occasion."
  • The hippocampal system is consistently implicated as necessary for episodic memory.

Conclusions:

  • Episodic memory, or episodic-like memory in animals, is supported by the hippocampal system.
  • The neural basis of episodic memory can be distinguished from other forms of declarative memory.
  • This research broadens the understanding of episodic memory beyond human cognition.