Main Difference Between Ne and Ni

In 1972, Endel Tulving identified two independent types of memory within declarative memory: semantic (for storing knowledge) and episodic (storing memories of events). Semantic memory differs from episodic memory in that it operates with knowledge reflecting the social and cultural experience of society, but is relatively neutral in relation to the personality of the individual.

Semantic memory is a system of declarative memory for recording, storing, and updating generalized knowledge about the world. It consists of elements — knowledge represented by words and other verbal symbols, their meanings, relationships between them, and the rules for applying these symbols, concepts, and their connections. Semantic memory does not capture emotional reactions to external factors, but is capable of storing them as neutral knowledge.

Episodic memory, on the other hand, is a type of memory that stores episodes of the past in their temporal unfolding. When recalling your life, you recall not a continuous stream, but individual events — however, these events also have a temporal unfolding as a sequence of actions performed by various participants (actors). Episodic memory memories are also the basis for dynamic (i.e., time-unfolded, plot-based) fantasies. A typical example is dreams, in which individual fragments of episodic memory are combined.

So, here it is:

Ne primarily works with semantic memory, combining its memories in different ways, and Ni is engaged in the same activity, combining individual images, but with memories from episodic memory.

Ne is capable of creating the unprecedented by combining static elements of semantic memory. Ni is capable of creating the unprecedented by combining dynamic elements of episodic memory.

Unlike episodic memory, semantic memory is not subjective — its images have no place for the role and participation of the subject. On the other hand, episodic memory is almost always subjective — the subject in its memories acts, if not as an active participant in events, at least as a present observer.

Accordingly, the images of Ni are subjective, while the images of Ne are not.