Language 1 Semantic Memory Flashcards
Memory definition
process of storing information and experiences for potential future retrieval (i.e episodes, knowledge, skills, abilities)
The Chinese Room thought experiment- describe it and why relevant
Was created by John Searle to challenge artificial intelligence ideas.
Procedure-
P is put into a room with no access to any other resources except a guideline book (all Mandarin characters).
P must attempt to communicate using only the symbols in book (i.e. if shown symbol for X, respond with next symbol Y).
In short it shows that a computer can’t UNDERSTAND chinese but merely SIMULATES
Outline the branches for episodic and semantic memory
LTM»_space; declarative memory (facts, data, events) / procedural memory (how to do things)
Declartive branches off into»_space; episodic (personal experiences) / semantic memory (general factual info/meaning)
Define semantic memory (type of declarative memory)
General knowledge about the world (i.e. remembering what coffee tastes like, name of friends)
What makes episodic memory different then? Define
Remembering an event at a given time in a given place (i.e. first day at uni)
What is impaired in amnesia patients?
Damage occurs where?
Impaired episodic memory and less so for semantic memory
Damage occurs in the medial frontal lobe
What is impaired in patients with semantic dementia (SD)
Damage occurs where?
Exhibit severe semantic memory impairment but relatively in tact episodic memory.
Damage is to the anterior temporal lobes
What does the difference in impairment between amnesic and SD patients tell us about memory?
That both forms of these LTM (episodic and semantic) operate relatively independently of each other
Why is semantic memory important?
The sound and meaning of words is stored in semantic memory- it allows us to speak language in order to communicate
> allows for retrieval of info about concepts we’ve previously
> recognise objects
What are concepts?
Mental representations and fundamental units of thought
What are propositions?
Relationships between concepts
How are concepts represented in the mind?
List the 3 types
Verbal rep-
use of inner voice to say the words i.e. ‘a circle is on top of a triangle’
Propositional rep-
similar to a computer’s computation process- considering the relationship (circle ON top)
Mental rep-
picturing the concept visually (an image)
This is the amodal vs emobodied/situated accounts
Defining core features approach- any issues?
Word meaning is a list of defining features about an item i.e.
a cat = mammal, pet, furry, tail
> Where do you draw the line i.e. cat = cute?
>some words don’t have consistent features i.e. abstract words like peace
> some meaning is not equally god across different contexts (i.e. red (hair or red bike?)
Improvement of organisation of semantic knowledge- Collins and Quillian 1969 - hierarchical network model. Explain the model
The meaning of a word is:
- represented by a hierarchy of nodes and links
- is understood by how it is embedded within a network of other meanings
> those at the bottom of the hierarchy support the properties above i.e. canary (as well as being yellow and singing it is also a bird and animal)
only put the properties relevant to a node coming from it
Support for the hierarchical network model
Sentence verification task
(deciding if a sentence makes sense or not- response time supports the network model- quicker response if the property given in the sentence is at the same level as the node
i.e. ‘canary has skin’ takes longer than ‘canary is yellow’ as it is further up the network
Issue of relatedness effect (for hierarchical network model) - what does this mean?
The more related two things are, the harder it is to disentangle them i.e. ‘pine’ is church and a ‘flower’
Issue of typicality effect- what does this mean?
not all true statements with the same semantic distance responded equally fast i.e. canary is a bird, penguin is a bird
Issue of hierarchical model led to an imroved model by Collins and Loftus (1975) called what? Briefly explain how it works
The spreading activation model-
activity at one node causes activation at other nodes via links.
Spreading activation is automatic- decreases the further it travels in the network (total amount of activation that can be spread)
Support for the spreading activation model? (Collins & Loftus, 1975)
> Sentence verification task
Priming effect-
(priming paradigm usually tested via fixation spot then a prime i.e ‘bird’
2 types- semantic priming effect i.e. duck primes goose, horse doesn’t
mediated priming effect- lion primes stripes via activation of ‘tiger’ (related node)
- greater semantic priming if the prime and target words are closely related semantically
When does mediated priming effect occur most?
Primes and targets that have a lengthier link (i.e. an extra node connects them) RT longer too
Associative vs semantic priming study
Tested 4 varying word pairs i.e. 1 associative - traffic-jam, 1 assos/semantic lemon-orange & 1 unrelated- beard-tower, 1 semantic
What is the N400
After 400 m/s we are processing the meaning of a word (a negative association potential occurs
What did associated word pairs in the ‘associative vs semantic priming study’ do that semantically related word pairs did not.
What does this tell us?
Associated word pairs (traffic-jam) decreased the amgnitude of N400 (gave it a negative potential on the graph).
> semantic association through the semantic networks is not the same as simply relating words because the co-occur
Criticism of the semantic network model?
The notion that each concept is represented by a single node is oversimplified, what about more abstract concepts like justice?
3 theoretical assumptions of mental representations
1) Detached from input (sensory) and output (motor) processes
2) They are stable
3) Different people have similar representations of any given concept (this isnt necessarily true - a concept.
[concept not a singular stable node
Outline the Kiki-Bouba effect (how we give meaning to form (objects) ?)
What can we call this effect? What approach does the explanation for Kiki-bouba effect fit into?
Kiki- attribute to the sharper object due to the perceptual features (sharper, spikier). The name has harsher sounding consenants
Bouba- attribute more to the circular/round shape- the name has a rounder/softer sound, and we make a rounded shape with your mouth to say this name.
- We can call this effect iconicity
- sits within the Embodied and situated approach (Barsalou, 2009)
What is the indexical hypothesis? (embodied/situated approach, Barsalou, 2009)
Our verbal knowledge is tied to our perceptual experiences
i.e rainbow- strong visual response, coffee- strong olfactory response
What are affordances? (embodied/situated approach, Barsalou, 2009)
are determined by the interaction of our perceptual abilities and the physical characteristics of our bodies and the physical properties in the real world i.e ‘chair’ affords sitting in combination of our bodies and the objects properties
Supporting evidence for embodiment
1) We make gestures when we speak (universal communication aspect). We do this to simulate our mental representations and helps us ground our understanding of experiences
2) behavioural demonstration of the sensori-motor influences on language processing tasks (relation between meaning, action and emotion)
3) Neuroscientific demonstration of the overlap between areas in the brain contributing to language and actions
Behavioural evidence for link between language and action (Stanfield & Zwan, 2001)
According to embodiment, we make different mental representations that match the physical action
i.e. would put a pencil vertically if sentence in task given says ‘john put the pencil in the cup’.
Findings- faster recognition occurred when the orientation implied in the sentence matched the object’s orientation in the picture (orientation matching effect)
- faster judgement when the sentence matched the response action (‘you open the draw’- hand picture- pulling toward you) (sentence-action compatibility effect)
(all findings here cant be explained by a node network, rather through embodiment
Findings related to embodiment through metaphors- Santana & de Vega (2011)
Found faster responses when the sentence matched the response movement (sentence-action compatibility effect)
i.e. ‘rise to victory’ matches with pointing upward, fall into depression (downward point)
The role of emotion (senses) in language processing study findings?
Shows emotional words (i.e. gun , disease/pet,joy) showed a processing advantage compared with neutral words
Neurscientific evidence for embodiment from fMRI scans
P’s read action words (i.e. face, arm, leg). Compared their brain scans with those asked to perform the physical corresponding action (lick, pick and kick).
They found overlap in the somatosensory brain regions from both brain scan conditions.
Concluded that words related to actions led to increased activity in the same brain areas compared with when performing the action itself.
There is somatotopic representation of action words in human motor and premotor cortex
Pulvermuller et al (2005) TMS study
TMS to arm or leg motor cortex in brain facilitated lexical decisions (faster response times) to arm (.e.g grasp) or leg (e.g. kick) related words .
In short stimulation (low-level) of motor areas facilitate action word processing
Hub-and-spoke model (Patterson et al, 2007)
A hybrid model of semantic memory- contains both amodal (unified abstract) representations (the hub) and representations that are grounded in sensory and motor systems, modality-specific (the spokes i.e .sounds, shape, colour).
Category structures belong to the hub and are separate to what represents the content based features (spokes)
Support for the hub-and-spoke model
TMS stimulation applied to IPL area of brain (toward mid back area)
- increased naming times for manipulable objects
TMS applied to the ATL (temporal lobe area)»_space;
- increased naming times for all object naming categories
> Semantic dementia (SD) patients- most prominent feature is anomia- failure to name objects, concepts, people either in response to stimulus presentation or in spontaneous speech
What is a schema / ‘schematic knowledge’
Advs/disadvs?
A schema is a well integrated chunk of knowledge about the world, events, people, actions- broader, more flexible structure
+ schemas allow predictions
- shemas rely on stereotypes
