1. a person’s memory for episodes or experiences that occurred in his or her own life. Often the terms autobiographical memory and episodic memory are used interchangeably. However, autobiographical memory can consist of information stored in episodic memory (i.e., of events experienced at a particular time and place), semantic memory (i.e., of knowledge of general facts and concepts that give meaning to information), or a mix of the two. For example, the autobiographical memory of one’s first day at school might contain episodic information, such as meeting the teacher, but it might also contain semantic information, such as knowledge that the teacher’s name was Susan.

2. more broadly, memory for any information about the self, including not only personal experiences but also self-related factual knowledge, the self-schema, and so forth.