On the representation and retrieval of stored semantic information
TL;DR: This article measured the reaction time (RT) of true-false decisions about two kinds of logical assertions while varying the set relation and sizes of the semantic categories S and P, and concluded that at least two types of information about semantic categories, names of categories they intersect and representations of their attributes, are stored in memory.
About: This article is published in Cognitive Psychology.The article was published on 1970-08-01. It has received 216 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Semantic memory.
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TL;DR: The present paper shows how the extended theory can account for results of several production experiments by Loftus, Juola and Atkinson's multiple-category experiment, Conrad's sentence-verification experiments, and several categorization experiments on the effect of semantic relatedness and typicality by Holyoak and Glass, Rips, Shoben, and Smith, and Rosch.
Abstract: This paper presents a spreading-acti vation theory of human semantic processing, which can be applied to a wide range of recent experimental results The theory is based on Quillian's theory of semantic memory search and semantic preparation, or priming In conjunction with this, several of the miscondeptions concerning Qullian's theory are discussed A number of additional assumptions are proposed for his theory in order to apply it to recent experiments The present paper shows how the extended theory can account for results of several production experiments by Loftus, Juola and Atkinson's multiple-category experiment, Conrad's sentence-verification experiments, and several categorization experiments on the effect of semantic relatedness and typicality by Holyoak and Glass, Rips, Shoben, and Smith, and Rosch The paper also provides a critique of the Smith, Shoben, and Rips model for categorization judgments Some years ago, Quillian1 (1962, 1967) proposed a spreading-acti vation theory of human semantic processing that he tried to implement in computer simulations of memory search (Quillian, 1966) and comprehension (Quillian, 1969) The theory viewed memory search as activation spreading from two or more concept nodes in a semantic network until an intersection was found The effects of preparation (or priming) in semantic memory were also explained in terms of spreading activation from the node of the primed concept Rather than a theory to explain data, it was a theory designed to show how to build human semantic structure and processing into a computer
7,586 citations
Cites background or methods from "On the representation and retrieval..."
...In recent experiments, Rips et al. (1973), Rosch (1973), and Smith et al. (1974) have shown that reaction time in a categorization task corresponds very closely to ratings of how typical the instance is of the category....
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...This suggests that approaches such as that of Meyer (1970) and Smith et a). (1974), which try to for-...
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...In recent experiments, Rips et al. (1973), Rosch (1973), and Smith et al....
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...This suggests that approaches such as that of Meyer (1970) and Smith et a)....
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TL;DR: A theory of memory retrieval is developed and is shown to apply over a range of experimental paradigms, and it is noted that neural network models can be interfaced to the retrieval theory with little difficulty and that semantic memory models may benefit from such a retrieval scheme.
Abstract: A theory of memory retrieval is developed and is shown to apply over a range of experimental paradigms. Access to memory traces is viewed in terms of a resonance metaphor. The probe item evokes the search set on the basis of probe-memory item relatedness, just as a ringing tuning fork evokes sympathetic vibrations in other tuning forks. Evidence is accumulated in parallel from each probe-memory item comparison, and each comparison is modeled by a continuous random walk process. In item recognition, the decision process is self-terminating on matching comparisons and exhaustive on nonmatching comparisons. The mathematical model produces predictions about accuracy, mean reaction time, error latency, and reaction time distributions that are in good accord with experimental data. The theory is applied to four item recognition paradigms (Sternberg, prememorized list, study-test, and continuous) and to speed-accuracy paradigms; results are found to provide a basis for comparison of these paradigms. It is noted that neural network models can be interfaced to the retrieval theory with little difficulty and that semantic memory models may benefit from such a retrieval scheme.
3,856 citations
Cites background from "On the representation and retrieval..."
...Furthermore, in many item recognition studies, it is found that accuracy and latency covary, and this seems to be true in many semantic memory studies (e.g., Collins & Quillian, 1969; Meyer, 1970; Rips et al., 1973)....
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TL;DR: A model of information processing in reading is described in which visual information is transformed through a series of processing stages involving visual, phonological and episodic memory systems until it is finally comprehended in the semantic system.
3,825 citations
TL;DR: The results of both experiments support a retrieval model involving a dependence between separate successive decisions about whether each of the two strings is a word.
Abstract: Two experiments are reported in which 5s were presented two strings of letters simultaneously, with one string displayed visually above the other. In Exp. I, 5s responded "yes" if both strings were words, otherwise responding "no." In Exp. II, 5s responded "same" if the two strings were either both words or both nonwords, otherwise responding "different." "Yes" responses and "same" responses were faster for pairs of commonly associated words than for pairs of unassociated words. "Same" responses were slowest for pairs of nonwords. "No" responses were faster when the top string in the display was a nonword, whereas "different" responses were faster when the top string was a word. The results of both experiments support a retrieval model involving a dependence between separate successive decisions about whether each of the two strings is a word. Possible mechanisms that underlie this dependence are discussed.
2,781 citations
01 Jan 1980
TL;DR: The authors investigated the possibility that assessment of confidence is biased by attempts to justify one's chosen answer and disregarding evidence contradicting it, and found that only the listing of contradicting reasons improved the appropriateness of confidence.
Abstract: People are often overconfident in evaluating the correctness of their knowledge. The present studies investigated the possibility that assessment of confidence is biased by attempts to justify one's chosen answer. These attempts include selectively focusing on evidence supporting the chosen answer and disregarding evidence contradicting it. Experiment 1 presented subjects with two-alternative questions and required them to list reasons for and against each of the alternatives prior to choosing an answer and assessing the probability of its being correct. This procedure produced a marked improvement in the appropriateness of confidence judgments. Experiment 2 simplified the manipulation by asking subjects first to choose an answer and then to list (a) one reason supporting that choice, (b) one reason contradicting it, or (c) one reason supporting and one reason contradicting. Only the listing of contradicting reasons improved the appropriateness of confidence. Correlational analyses of the data of Experiment 1 strongly suggested that the confidence depends on the amount and strength of the evidence supporting the answer chosen.
2,721 citations
References
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TL;DR: When subjects judge whether a test symbol is contained in a short memorized sequence of symbols, their mean reaction-time increases linearly with the length of the sequence, implying the existence of an internal serial-comparison process.
Abstract: When subjects judge whether a test symbol is contained in a short memorized sequence of symbols, their mean reaction-time increases linearly with the length of the sequence. The linearity and slope of the function imply the existence of an internal serial-comparison process whose average rate is between 25 and 30 symbols per second.
3,245 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that stage-durations may be additive without being stochastically independent, a result that is relevant to the formulation of mathematical models of RT.
3,075 citations
Book•
31 Oct 1995
TL;DR: The results of a true-false reaction-time task were found to support the hypothesis about memory organization that a canary is a bird and birds can fly.
Abstract: To ascertain the truth of a sentence such as “A canary can fly,” people utilize long-term memory. Consider two possible organizations of this memory. First, people might store with each kind of bird that flies (e.g., canary) the fact that it can fly. Then they could retrieve this fact directly to decide the sentence is true. An alternative organization would be to store only the generalization that birds can fly, and to infer that “A canary can fly” from the stored information that a canary is a bird and birds can fly. The latter organization is much more economical in terms of storage space but should require longer retrieval times when such inferences are necessary. The results of a true-false reaction-time task were found to support the latter hypothesis about memory organization.
2,671 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, two possible organizations of long-term memory were proposed: the first one is to store only the generalization that birds can fly, and the second is to infer that a canary is a bird from the stored information that canary can fly.
2,468 citations
Journal Article•
1,925 citations