Long-Term Memory: Semantic & Episodic Memory

When trying to analyze the story recall, I decided to develop a coding scheme that helps me to investigate the data. Following is the counts of accuracy of the three-time recalls from the recall grid. Numbers in black are the 1st recall, red is the 2nd, and the blue is the 3rd. My coding scheme is based on the following rules:
1) Original sentences are chopped into units according to the meaning. Each unit contains one major concept/element.
2) If the key meaning matches the original sentences, it is counted. (content accuracy)
3) If the recalled meaning is distorted from the original meaning, it was not counted.

*Please notice that the coding scheme is subjective and not very rigorous. There may be some errors in the following data.*

Based on the following data, one of my observations is that we tend to remember the general meaning of a passage and the superficial aspects are easily forgotten. Take the following story recall for example. The main concepts that construct the story and keep it flowing are the frequently recalled elements (e.g. two young men went down the river -> men in the canoe asked if they want to join the war -> one man thought he may be killed and his relatives do not know where he have gone-> one man went and the other returned home, etc.) On the contrary, the superficial elements which do not influence too much on the key meaning of story are hard to be recalled. (e.g. one night; it became foggy and calm; they heard the noise of paddles; he became quiet; His face became contorted, etc.)

Beside the accurate recalls, it is interesting to look at the unsuccessful recalls. In some story recalls, we can see that several key concepts and the frame of the story were remembered, and then we try to reconstruct it from the presented information and our existing knowledge (schema). Ineffective encoding (just like myself, I did not pay enought attention while reading the story at the first time), unsuccessful retrieval and the influence from our schema lead to omissions and distortions. (e.g. two young men-->two Indians; “Quick, let us go home: that Indian has been hit” --> they receive word the person they needed to kill had already been shot. So, they went to his house and started a fire, etc.)

One night -- 1 2 0
two young men – 11 11 11
from Egulac -- 3 2 3
went down to the river –10 8 8
to hunt seals --6 4 4
and while they were there it became foggy and calm. -- 2 1 1
Then they heard war-cries, --8 5 6
and they thought: "Maybe this is a war-party". – 4 3 3
They escaped to the shore, and hid behind a log. -- 2 1 1
Now canoes came up,-- 6 3 4
and they heard the noise of paddles, -- 1 1 1
and saw one canoe coming up to them.-- 4 5 4
There were five men in the canoe, --6 3 2
and they said: "What do you think? We wish to take you along. We are going up the river to make war on the people." –9 9 9
One of the young men said, "I have no arrows."-- 5 2 3
"Arrows are in the canoe," they said.-- 5 4 4
"I will not go along. I might be killed. My relatives do not know where I have gone. –10 9 9
But you," he said, turning to the other, "may go with them." --4 4 4
So one of the young men went, but the other returned home. --7 7 6
And the warriors went on up the river to a town on the other side of Kalama.-- 1 1 0
The people came down to the water and they began to fight, and many were killed. –6 4 4
But presently the young man heard one of the warriors say, "Quick, let us go home: that Indian has been hit." --5 5 4
Now he thought: "Oh, they are ghosts." --1 1 0
He did not feel sick, –5 4 4
but they said he had been shot.
So the canoes went back to Egulac --2 2 1
and the young man went ashore to his house --6 2 5
and made a fire. ---2 2 1
And he told everybody and –5 5 5
said: "Behold I accompanied the ghosts, and we went to fight. -- 2 1 1
Many of our fellows were killed, and many of those who attacked us were killed. -- 2 1 1
They said I was hit, and I did not feel sick." –5 1 0
He told it all, and then he became quiet. – 0 0 0
When the sun rose he fell down. –4 4 3
Something black came out of his mouth. --5 3 3
His face became contorted. –1 0 0
The people jumped up and cried. --2 1 1
He was dead. –9 9 9