Declarative, or otherwise called explicit memories, are a type of long term memory stored in the brain. Declarative memories can be broken down into two categories, semantic and episodic. Semantic memories are things like general knowledge. Such as remembering who the first president of the US was, remembering what the word psychology means, or remembering simple math such as 3-2=1. Episodic memories on the other hand, are memories that come from events that have happened to you. Such as remembering your 10th birthday party, or your first day of high school. Both categories of declarative memories are stored in long-term memory, where the memories remain relatively permanent in the brain.
We have all had experiences or have experienced learning general knowledge that is ingrained into our long term declarative memory. An example of a piece of information I feel like I have always known from when I was younger, is that Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas on his ship called the Santa Maria. I remember learning this piece of information in about second grade, and since then I have never forgotten it. I also remember a little bit about my surroundings as I learned this. I remember it was sometime around fall when our teacher gave us this Christopher Columbus book to read in class and I was looking down at the illustrations of the ships and pilgrims on the pages. Remembering this general fact over all these years is an example of a semantic memory I have, because it was a general piece of information I learned when I was little and can still recall today. The little bits I remember from my surroundings as I was learning about Christopher Columbus show this memory was also episodic, because I remember what I saw, heard, and felt, as I was experiencing this moment. This is an example of just one of the billions of declarative memories we all have stored in the long term memory of our brains.
Oldprimarytimer. (2018, February 11). Memory not memories – teaching for long term learning. Retrieved from https://primarytimery.com/2017/09/16/memory-not-memories-teaching-for-long-term-learning/.