Episodic vs. Semantic Memory

Forming general principles helps us to act more efficiently.
Episodic Semantic
Chris failed to show up as promised. Chris is unreliable
Pat relayed negative gossip about Chris. "
Chris took money from the cash drawer. "

But general principles can be mistaken (the problem of induction).
Episode Explanation
Chris failed to show up as promised. Chris had helped someone in an emergency.
Pat relayed negative gossip about Chris. Pat is competing with Chris for a promotion.
Chris took money from the cash drawer. Chris was asked to deposit the money at the bank.
At times, we need to revisit the original "data" that underlies an inductive generalization. We need to retain episodic memories, even though semantic memories are usually more efficient (Cosmides & Tooby, 2000).