Semantic memory Flashcards
(23 cards)
define semantic memory
general word knowledge including objects, people, concepts and words
how do we store it in memory
storing representations and their relations in a more economical network.
Collins and Quillian’s hierarchal network model
Access of concept representations through spreading activation between nodes via their connecting paths
Spreading activation occurs through the paths when stimulated to think about something which activates related concepts.
basic level
broad concepts
subordinate level
items that relate to broad concepts
superordinate level
much more general concepts
semantic dementia
syndrome of progressive deterioration in semantic memory, leading to the loss of knowledge about objects, people, concepts and words
categorisation of semantic memory
semantic memory enables us to form representations of categories based on regularities in the world, thereby allowing us to make predictions about what will happen next
Classical theories of categorisation
categories are defined by necessary and sufficient features
criticism of classical theories
central tendancy - categories exhibit an averaged ideal
graded membershup - some members are more typiical for a category than others
prototype theory
categories are determined by a mental representation that is a weighted average of all category members
This prototype may or may not be an actual entity
criticism of prototype theory
cannot explain how people can tell the sizes of categories
cant explain how we add new members to a category
exemplar theory
attempts to adress issues with prototype theory.
categories consist of seperate representations of the physical features of experienced samples of the category
can have individual representations and exemplar
criticisms of exemplar theory
cannot explain how people can retrieve all category members to define a category if retrieval is based on category membership
cannot explain how people form abstract categories of things without physical features
explanation based theory
categories are based on common causal characteristics rather than physical features
Categories can be created ad hoc using world knowledge and explanations
Ad hoc categories
are similair to common categories in that they exhibit family resemblance, central tendancy and graded membership
What does semantic memory enable us to form
schemas and scripts that capture commonly encountered aspects of life.
schemas - explanation based event categories
schema - temporally ordered schemata
what are the five primary schema processes
- selection
- abstraction
- interpretation
- integration
- reconstruction
selection
selection of information central to a schema
abstraction
the surface form of information is converted into a more abstract representation that captures the meaning but is schema consistent
interpretation
used to fill in the gaps in a story with schema consistent information
integration
integration of information is used to form schema consistent holistic representations
how can schema theory affect
schema processes affect encoding and retrieval of information
those effects can change our memories, and thus their correctness
