La mémoire épisodique est-elle emboîtée dans la mémoire sémantique?

Utilizing the general framework of a theory of episodic memory in which the word to-be-remembered is stored together with the information of the encoding context, two experiments were constructed concerning the distinction between a strong version of the theory (e.g. that episodic memory functions independently of semantic memory) and a weak version of the theory (e.g., that episodic memory is embedded within semantic memory). In Experiment I, as in the experiment of Tulving and Thomson (1973), a list pairing a cue-word and a target-word (soap-APPLE) was presented. An association-recognition phase followed, in which strongly associated stimulus of the targets (e.g., fruit) were presented. The subject made a series of associations to the words and then tried to recognize the targets. Finally, there was a classical retrieval phase where the original cues (soap) were again presented. Each target could be : 1) recognized and recalled (with the cue) ; 2) non-recognized and recalled; 3) recognized and non-recalled ; and 4) non-recognized and non-recalled. It appeared that the proportion of words recognized and recalled was a function of the semantic distance between the cue and the target. In Experiment II, the stimulus in the association-recognition phase was a word associated to the cue, and the proportion of non-recognized-recalled words was not statistically significant. The cases falling in the category of words recognized-recalled were interpreted as reflecting storage of the episode (containing the target) in the contexts of both the cue and the target within semantic memory. The cases of non-recognized-recalled would similarly reflect the situation in which the episode of the target was stored only in the context of the cue within semantic memory, etc. It was concluded that episodic memory should be considered embedded within semantic memory. of non-recognized-recalled would similarly reflect the situation in which the episode of the target was stored only in the context of the cue within semantic memory, etc. It was concluded that episodic memory should be considered embedded within semantic memory.