Endel Tulving
Estonian-Canadian psychologist who distinguished episodic and semantic memory.
Most quoted
"Autonoetic consciousness, the capacity to be aware of one's own existence and to project oneself into the past and future, is a hallmark of episodic memory."
— from Memory and Consciousness, 1985
"Memory is not a unitary faculty of the mind, but rather a collection of interacting systems, each with its own characteristics and functions."
— from Elements of Episodic Memory, 1983
"Without episodic memory, we would be forever stuck in the present, unable to learn from our past or plan for our future."
— from Memory and Consciousness, 1985
All quotes by Endel Tulving (102)
Forgetting is as important as remembering.
The brain's library holds more than it reveals.
Autonoesis: knowing that we know our past.
Memory research is the archaeology of the mind.
Episodes are the building blocks of self.
Specificity in encoding ensures specificity in retrieval.
Life's meaning emerges from remembered moments.
The mind's time machine is episodic memory.
Semantics provides the facts; episodes, the flavor.
In memory, context is the invisible hand.
To remember is to relive, in a sense.
The noetic/episodic distinction is fundamental.
Memory is not a snapshot; it's a reconstruction.
Our past selves echo in present thoughts.
Researching memory is chasing shadows of experience.
Episodic memory defines human uniqueness.
Cues are the keys to locked memories.
The self is a memory construct.
Forgetting frees us from the weight of all yesterdays.
In the dance of memory, rhythm matters.
Contemporaries of Endel Tulving
Other Cognitive Sciences born within 50 years of Endel Tulving (1927–2023).