Lecture 13: Semantic Networks

Question 1

Teachable language Comprehender (TLC)

Answer 1

In our mind there is a tree diagram with a large parent category that branches off into different daughter categories

Question 2

Sentence Verification and Distance from Category in TLC

Answer 2

The greater the distance from the category the trait asked about is on, the longer it will take to verify if a sentence is true or not

Question 3

Problems With Sentence Verification

Answer 3

§ Reverse distance effect: Prove that TLC is not perfectly right
§ Typicality: An apple is a “typical fruit,” an olive is not
□ Is not explained by TLC
§ Basic-Level Effects
□ People will say “chair” rather and going a level above and saying “furniture,” or a level below specifying the type of chair

Question 4

Revised TLC (Teachable Language Comprehender)

Answer 4

○ It is not strictly hierarchal
○ Connections between nodes vary in length inversely related to association
○ Specify relationships between categories (can fly, is blue, etc.)
○ Spreading activation:
○ A node is activated when a person “senses” a concept
○ Activation spreads to adjacent nodes
○ Spread of activation permits sentence verification
§ When activation intersects, decide whether relationships make statement true