Advances in researching episodic memory

The paper deals with lines of development in researching episodic memory an d particularly with German contributions to the field. It focuses on the co nstruct of information-specific memory systems giving up the distinction be tween short-term and long-term memory in explaining episodic retention. The paper deals further with the distinction between item-specific and relatio nal information. The core assumption of information-specific memory systems is the distinction between several modality-specific systems and an amodal conceptual system. It is shown that this distinction is indispensable in e xplaining episodic retention and that it modifies the assumptions concernin g item-specific and relational information. Whereas relational information refers to conceptual information and is processed independently of processi ng modality-specific information, encoding and retrieval of item-specific i nformation is influenced differentially by modality-specific information.