Showing papers on "Semantic memory published in 1979"

Information Processing Models of Cognition

Abstract: PROBLEM SOLVING . Strategies as Intenening Variables . The Experts Knowledge .. Semantically Rich Domains .. Production Systems . 'f:o�::;s;r���t/::o�.���� ... :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: SEMANTIC MEMORY ..

Chunking and Consolidation: A Theoretical Synthesis of Semantic Networks, Configuring in Conditioning, S-R versus Cognitive Learning, Normal Forgetting, the Amnesic Syndrome, and the Hippocampal Arousal System.

Abstract: Horizontal versus vertical associative memory concepts are denned. Vertical associative memory involves chunking: the specification of new (previously free) nodes to represent combinations of old (bound) nodes. Chunking is the basis of semantic memory, configuring in conditioning, and cognitive (as opposed to stimulus-response) learning. The cortex has the capacity for chunking, but the hippocampal (limbic) arousal system plays a critical role in this chunking process by differentiall y priming (partially activating) free, as opposed to bound, neurons. Binding a neuron produces negatively accelerated repression of its connections to the hippocampal arousal system, consolidating the memory by protecting the newly bound neuron from diffuse hippocampal input and thus retarding forgetting. Disruption of the hippocampal arousal system produces the amnesic syndrome of an inability to do new chunking (cognitive learning)—anterograde amnesia—and an inability to retrieve recently specified chunks—retrograde amnesia.

Working Memory and Reading

Abstract: The possible role of short-term or working memory in reading is discussed. A distinction is drawn between two hypothetical components of working memory — a central executive that is responsible for information processing and decision taking, and an articulatory loop which acts as a slave system, enabling verbal material to be maintained sub-vocally. On the basis of existing evidence, it is argued that the articulatory loop plays an important role in learning to read, but is less essential for fluent reading. Experiments are presented which show that objects may read and comprehend statements without utilisation of the articulatory loop. Conditions under which the loop will be utilised are discussed. It is suggested that these include situations where 1) judgments of phonological similarity are required; 2) retention of the surface structure of the passage is required; 3) strict word order is crucial to comprehension, and possibly 4) the rate of input of material exceeds the rate of semantic processing. My primary research interest is in human memory, and my interest in reading stems from this. A few years ago Graham Hitch and I began a series of experiments aimed at exploring the role of short-term memory in a number of information-processing tasks. This resulted in a substantial change in our concept of the nature of short-term memory, and the resulting hypothetical system, which we term working memory, seemed to suggest some interesting hypotheses about the nature of reading. In the present chapter, I want to discuss these hypotheses and describe some experiments stemming from them.

Semantic association effects in a mental comparison task

Abstract: Two reaction time experiments explored the effect of semantic associations on the time required to make mental size comparisons Subjects in both experiments were able to judge relative size more quickly for associated than for nonassociated pairs This association effect was found for a variety of different types of semantic relationships Experiment 2 used a large pool of pairs that were scaled for degree of association and subjective size of the individual items This experiment demonstrated that a high degree of association is more facilitative for pairs with small rather than large size differences Two different explanations of the results are presented, and it is tentatively suggested that work on mental comparison may be integrated with a broader range of semantic memory research

Neuropsychological evidence for multiple memory systems.

Abstract: Neuropsychological data provide strong support for the existence of multiple memory systems. The distinction between short-term memory and long-term memory has been discussed in the experimental literature for some years. More recently it has been argued that the concept of long-term memory is misleading in that it fails to differentiate between semantic memory and episodic/event memory. The independent and selective impairment of multiple memory systems, each with its own functional and structural properties, has been recorded in patients with cerebral lesions and the evidence for impairment of such systems is reviewed. It is argued that the cerebral organization of short-term memory, long-term (non-individual) semantic memory and long-term (individual) event memory is highly differentiated.

Role of antonymy relations in semantic judgments.

Abstract: Decision times for sentences or word pairs involving direct (e.g., boy-girl) or indirect (e.g., boy-sister) antonyms were measured in a sentence verification task and a lexical decision task. In Experiment 1 false sentences involving the direct antonyms were disconfirmed faster than sentences involving the indirect antonyms, even though the former were rated as more closely related in meaning. In Experiment 2 a smaller advantage for the direct antonyms was found in a lexical decision task, although "word" decisions were made more quickly for both types of antonym pairs than for pairs of unrelated words. Experiment 2 also investigated the degree of semantic facilitation obtained for category-instance word pairs. No significant latency differences were found for lexical decisions involving word pairs consisting of a category name (e.g., bird) and either a high frequency (e.g., robin) or low frequency (e.g., chicken) instance. The locus of the positive effect of semantic relatedness on falsification time for sentences involving antonyms is discussed in light of these results, as is the locus of the "typicality effect" obtained in previous semantic memory studies.

Does Cognitive Development Predict Semantic Integration

Abstract: JOHNSON, JANET W., and SCHOLNICK, ELLN KOFSKY. Does Cognitive Development Predict Semantic Integration? CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 73-78. In order to test whether semantic integration can be predicted from the specific logical skills at the memorizer's command, stories containing implicit inclusion and seriation inferences were given to third and fourth graders previously diagnosed as includers-seriators, includers-nonseriators, nonincluders-seriators, or nonincludersnonseriators and college students who mastered inclusion and seriation. A recognition test with true and false premises and inferences was then administered. Adults were more likely to recognize new statements making the inferred inclusion or seriation relations explicit than other new sentences inconsistent with the stories. Child seriators endorsed true seriation inferences (a) more than true inclusion inferences, (b) more than statements inconsistent with the seriation theme, and (c) more than nonseriators. Endorsement of inclusion inferences was low and did not vary with the child's diagnosed cognitive status. While semantic integration was predictable from the child's seriation knowledge, possibly the later acquisition of inclusion skills and the dependence of those skills on semantic knowledge hampered application of the skills to memory coding.

The role of sensory attributes as retrieval cues or as interference in retrieval of information from episodic memory.

Abstract: Summary The sensory attributes of to-be-remembered (TBR) events and of distractor stimuli were systematically manipulated (both within and between modalities) in two Brown-Peterson tasks [Experiments 1 (N = 40 male and female university students or faculty) and 2 (N = 22 male and female undergraduates)] and in a delayed recognition task (Experiment 1). Performance on these recall and recognition tasks (in which the semantic attributes of the TBR events were relatively controlled) was consistent with episodic theory. Memory of an event was reasonably completely described in terms of (a) the degree of overlap between the perceptible properties of the retrieval environment and of the memory trace of the event and (b) the perceptible similarities between the memory trace of the event and the traces of information encoded temporally adjacent to it. These sensory encoding specificity effects (as well as other research reviewed) were interpreted as demonstrations that a semantic interpretation of the encoding sp...

Effects of Task Instructions and Passage Difficulty on Semantic and Non-Semantic Processing of Linguistic Ideas:

Abstract: An active role in learning was assumed by the 80 volunteers in this experiment. Three independent variables were manipulated, knowledge of a recognition test, voicing an opinion about the passage, and the difficulty of passage. Three factorial analyses of variance showed significant main effects for knowledge of a recognition test and difficulty of passage on the nonsemantic section of the recognition task; significant three-way interactions of knowledge of the recognition task and voicing of an opinion and difficulty of the passage on the combined questions and on the semantic questions. The results fall within the depth of processing framework of Craik and Lockhart (1972).

The representation of relational information in long term memory.

Abstract: The Representation of Relational Information in Long Term MemoryFebruary, 1979 Judy McKinley Brewer, B.A., University of California M.S., University of Massachusetts, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor James Chumbley The memorial information used to judge the relative sizes of two named objects was investigated in a sentenceverification task in which ordinal and semantic distance relationships between the judged items were varied orthogonally. Test sentences were constructed using four seven item subsets of familiar object names drawn from a pre-experimentally ordered twelve item master list. Traditional qualitative analysis mirrored previous findings that reaction time and errors appeared to be affected by ordinal attributes of the items on the judged dimension. Planned contrasts, however, revealed that judgement time and accaracy were predicted only by the semantic (analog) relationships between the judged items. Use of a temporary linear memory array was ruled out and an argument was

Relationships between Behavioral and Electrocortical Responses of Aphasic and Non-aphasic Brain-damaged Adults to Semantic Materials

Abstract: Disorders of semantic processing are well recognized components of the syndrome of aphasia.

How to interfere with memory for sentence meaning

Abstract: Whether memory for the meaning of sentences is subject to disruption by a subsequent task and the extent of the disruption were investigated in the present study. Presentation and recall of 10-word test sentences were separated by the reading of 10 additional words that formed a 10-word sentence, five 2-word sentences, or a random string. The additional words were presented simultaneously or as pairs. One group of subjects was also asked to recall the additional words after recalling the test sentence. Memory for test sentence meaning was not affected by syntactic structure or presentation format unless recall of the additional words was required. In this case, random strings interfered the most and 10-word sentences the least. The format variable interacted with structure. These results suggest that when recall is required, semantic processing continues beyond termination of the stimulus presentation. It is subject to disruption that varies with the processing requirements of the subsequent task.

Use of thematic information to speed search of semantic nets

Abstract: A model is proposed for the representation of thematically integratable information in semantic memory and a process for searching through this memory. We assume that releted fects about an individual are not directly attached to the individual node, but rather, are indirectly attached via a thematic sub-node. Thematic sub-nodes allow much faster search of memory under certain conditions, but not others. We tested these predictions with human subjects and found support for these notions.

What is Reflected by Inter-Response Time(IRT) Data? : Comments on Mr. Isarida and Mr. Nakaya's Paper

Abstract: What is reflected by inter-response time (IRT) data? I found that this is the most important question to be asked in Mr. Isarida and Mr. Nakaya's paper. My comments on their paper are therefore focused on this question. My first criticism is concerned with the methodological problem. Mr. Isarida and Mr. Nakaya introduced a new measuring method of organization in free recall. They used interresponse time (IRT), instead of response order, as the measure of organization. Necessary premise for the validity of such a measure is, of course, the assumption that the organizational process is reflected by IRT data. I agree with them that IRT data are important dependent variables to be taken into consideration in memory research. It seems to me, however, that IRT might be influenced by random variation or other extraneous variables. Therefore, it seems necessary to test the validity of this measure more closely under a variety of conditions. Especially, the relation between IRT data and response order data should be examined systematically because the majority of studies of organization have employed response order as the measure of organization. My second criticism is concerned with the theoretical interpretation of the results. Given that IRT is a valid measure of organization, we are left with the task of clarifying the mechanism of organization itself. Although a number of recent studies have stressed the importance of organizational factor in memory, they have shed little light on the mechanism of organization in memory. It seems to me that the distinction between episodic memory and semantic memory would guide us in our discussion on the mechanism of organization. Tulving (1972) distinguished between semantic memory, which he defined as "a system for receiving, retaining and transmitting information about meaning of words, concepts and classification of concepts," and what he termed episodic memory, which is concerned with "memory for personal experiences and their temporal relations." In a long line of studies of organization in free recall, the organized recall byS have been conceived of as the reflection of the organization of episodic traces imposed during acquisition trials. However, recent investigators, using reaction time (RT) data to study the retrieval of information from semantic memory, proposed that the information is hierarchically organized in semantic memory (e.g., Collins & Quillian, 1969). I can say that an important question unanswered in Mr. Isarida and Mr. Nakaya's paper is whether the IRT data obtained in their experiments are the reflection of organized episodic traces or the reflection of the structure of semantic memory or both. Thus, I would like to ask the question again. What is reflected by IRT data? Finally I would like to thank the editors for providing me with the opportunity to discuss the hot topic in the field of memory with Mr. Isarida and Mr. Nakaya.