For example, verbal information such as strings of numbers, is probably stored temporarily while it is processed by the language centers. The subject may then report the content of this memory storage within the short time it resides in the cortex. TOP of Page Semantic verses Autobiographical Memories Semantic memories are composed of the general fund of information and the semantic knowledge of words. A clear example is the word knowledge stored as vocabulary. This information is highly organized into subordinate and superordinate categories and by other logical relationships.
Autobiographical knowledge represents the store of personal experience, usually organized by time.
It is poorly organized in comparison to semantic knowledge. It has been proposed that separate brain systems mediate each kind of memory and that amnesics may be classified by the relative ability to store and retrieve these separate types of information. The subject's report of an experience includes the explicit aspects of the experience and the subject is aware of storing and retrieving this information. Subjects commonly identify this as the material they have remembered from the experience. However, some information may have been retained of which the subject has no awareness.