In the classical account, imagination stores sensible forms, whereas memory retains particular meanings attributed to estimation. Both involve retention, but the kind of retained material differs.
Form: a person's face or distinctive voice.
Meaning: recollection of a person's kindness and the trust once associated with it.
A remembered impression may help explain past experience without being sufficient to judge the person's current conduct.
The underlying dispute is whether these processes establish a distinct inner faculty, or whether the names describe different functions of cognition.