13 - Semantics Flashcards
What is Semantics?
Knowledge of meaning of words, phrases and sentences
Can we know the meaning of a word even if it’s hard to explain?
Yes
Define: word
What are occassional conflicts in assumed meanings?
When there are multiple meanings or nuances to a word
(Ex.:, Dating, Draw, etc.)
Draw a picture Draw a breath Draw a gun End in a draw Etc.
“Run” has _____ seperate meanings for the verb form alone
645
Are multiple meanings of a word always related?
Nope
In our everyday lives, we constantly and quickly activate both _______ and ______ meanings.
Correct
Wrong
When we makes a mistake (activate the wrong meaning), is it sometimes hard for us to figure it out the correct meaning?
Yes
Police begin campaign to run down jaywalkers
Stolen painting found by tree
Etc.
How is our Mental Lexicon organized?
Our mental lexicon is organized by semantics
Not by phonology or orthography
What is our Mental Lexicon?
Our knowledge of words/morphemes
Is it easier to list words by category instead of initial letter or word length?
Yes
In category fluency tasks (such as name animals that are pets), ______ are usually produced together. In doing this, we go through ______. We exhaust one then move to the next.
Related items
Subcategories
(Typical pets -> farm animals -> jungle animals -> ocean animals)
What experiment did Bower perform in 1969?
Presented sets of words to subjects.
Some were in related words groups and some were presented in random groups.
Then he tested their memory of those words
What did Bower find in 1969?
Related words are learned better than random words
What experiment did Warrington & Shalice perform in 1984?
Did case studies of people who show categorical deficits
1 patient was only impaired on fruits and vegetables
4 patients were only impaired on living things and food
What model did Collins & Loftus create in 1975?
Spreading Activation Model
What is the Spreading Activation Model?
Nodes (circles on chart) represent concepts
Links (lines on chart) represents how related something is by how short or long the line is
How does the Spreading Activation Model work?
When a concept is processed, activation spreads to connected nodes
According to the Spreading Activation Model, does activation get weaker over distance?
Yes
What is Semantic Priming?
If you see or hear a related item, it will help you access other related items
Prime —–> Target
How do Semantic Priming experiments work?
They have the subject make a lexical decision task regarding whether a word is a real word or a nonword
The target word is preceded by either a related word or an unrelated word
Bread —–> NURSE
Unrelated
Doctor ——> NURSE
Related
How does having a preceding, related word affect response times in semantic priming tasks? Why?
People respond quickly when the preceding word is related.
That semantic area of the brain is already activated
What did Craik & Lockhart come up with in 1972 as well as Rogers in 1977?
Levels of processing (LOP) Effect
What does LOP stand for?
Levels of Processing Effect
What is the Levels of Processing Effect?
How you study a word affects how well you remember it
Shallow vs. deep processing
What is shallow processing according the the LOP Effect?
Letter - Does it have a “t”?
Phonemic - Does it rhyme with cat?
What is deep processing according the the LOP Effect?
Semantic - Does this mean “hungry”?
Self-Reference - Does this word describe you?
Of the four types of processing judgements for the LOP Effect, which causes people to remember the most word? The least?
Self-Reference Judgement: Remember the most
Semantic Judgement
Phonemic Judgement
Letter judgement: Remember the least
