Week 4: semantic model network of mem and emotions Flashcards
Semantic networks
Collins and Quillian 1969
Semantic network model of semantic knowledge
Knowledge represented in a hierarchical semantic network of interconnected elements (nodes).
1) distance -> similarity
2) definition of Concept: connections w. other concepts
Spreading Activation:
the way that information is retrieved from memory
when node is activated:
Activation spread to all it’s links
eventually activating the Superordinate node (most general cat)
Spreading Activation:
inheritance and generalisation of new knowledge
new facts could be stored with the appropriate category node, and would then automatically be inherited by all subordinate concepts.
Spreading Activation:
Semantic Priming effect
Meyer and Schvaneveldt, 1971
Design and results.
Participants:
speeded response to a pair of letter-strings in a lexical decision task
Conditions: two related words, two unrelated words, two non-words, or word and nonword
results:
RTs were faster when the two words were related in meaning, than when they were not related in meaning
semantic priming effect reflects
semantic priming effect reflect the automatic process of spreading activation between related concepts in a semantic memory network
Bower’s Semantic Network Theory of Emotion and Cognition
Emotion represented as Nodes
Emo nodes connected to related concepts, words, events and other emotions
Inhibitory connections between opp emos
Spreading activation from emo nodes to associated semantic nodes (priming: more accessible)
Basis for Mood Congruent Mem (MCM) and Mood Dependent Mem (MDM)
Mood Congruent Memory Model (MCM)
Bower
Look at effect of inducing a mood state prior to encoding information or retrieval.
mood state congruent with the valence of the material
DV: amount of info recalled as a function of the congruency of the studied materials with the induced mood.
Results: Recall is best when mood and content are congruent (sad mood induced with sad content.
Mood Dependent Memory (MDM)
Bower
Different from MCM:
Neutral words with induced (sad/happy) mood
Induce congruent/incongruent mood @ retrieval
Results:
Recall is better if moods were congruent -> mood: cue 4 retrieval
=>State dependent memory (emo states serving as retrieval cues to aid mem)
Cognitions in Depression
Semantic network models
Cycle of depressive thoughts. cognitive bias (content and process) towards negatively valence material
Semantic network models aod emo and mem are used to explain (-) cognitions tt occur in Clinical Depression (affective priming)
Depressed mood lowers the threshold for associated concepts/events -> more available for retrieval.
(+) valenced concepts and mems are inhibited
Automatic Cognitive Processes
Bargh’s 4 features of automaticity that can co-occur but theoretically independent:
1) Unconscious: Lack awareness of Stimulus
2) Efficient: Processing requires minimal attentional resources
3) Unintentional: no goal needed for the process
4) Uncontrollable: difficult to avoid/alter or stop
Teachman (2012):
Anxiety Disorder Major Depressive Disorder.
Methods
Unconscious:
Stroop (subliminal), dot-probe task, lexical decision tasks, affective priming tasks: prevent awareness of stimuli through masking or priming -> not suppose to reach the threshold of awareness.
Efficient:
Dual Attentional paradigms (RSVP paradigms): Dichotic listening task
Attentional Blink Task
Unintentional:
assess interference effects: Stroop task (supraliminal)
longer duration and are not masked, permitting conscious processing of item
lack of awareness of the emotion-relevant stimuli:
unlikely to have a conscious goal to process stimuli, thereby assessing unintentional processing.
Also dot-probe and negative priming tasks
Uncontrolled:
Implicit Association Test, Visual search tasks, Think– No-Think, modified Sternberg task, supraliminal Stroop and negative priming tasks
Teachman (2012): Anxiety Disorder Major Depressive Disorder. Results Unconscious: Efficient:
Unconscious:
AD:
bias for preferential attention to either negative or fear-specific masked stimuli
converging evidence suggests that among many anxious populations, threat-relevant stimuli are likely processed before they reach conscious awareness
MDD:
Only GAD without comorbid had significance
Not char by unconscious biases in their processing of emotional information, relative to non-depressed groups.
Teachman (2012):
Anxiety Disorder Major Depressive Disorder.
Results
Efficient:
Efficient:
In general, not enough research that had dual attentional paradigms
The definition of Efficient processing varied from different research.
For both areas more research is needed to draw any conclusions.
AD: there might be some evidence of an affected processing
MDD: no clear direction yet.
Teachman (2012):
Anxiety Disorder Major Depressive Disorder.
Results
Unintentional:
Unintentional processing:
AD:
some evidence that processing emotional information occurs unintentionally across a range of anxiety disorders, results vary by disorders.
strong support for unintentional processing in GAD and PTSD
MDD:
MDD is not strongly or uniquely characterized by unintentional processing of the emotional meaning of stimuli
less compelling than anxiety disorders
However: Unintentional part of processing is hard to test… Cannot 100% confirm processing is unintentional
Teachman (2012):
Anxiety Disorder Major Depressive Disorder.
Results
Uncontrolled:
Uncontrolled:
AD:
uncontrollability is a common feature of automaticity in anxiety disorders
MDD:
depressed participants can ignore negative material in the immediate environment when they are not given specific instructions to process or elaborate on it. Once negative material has entered working memory, however, depressed participants cannot remove it easily
