Week 4: Semantic Memory

• What is the theory that states concepts are organised in hierarchies?

  Hierarchy Theory
• What are the three levels within the hierarchy theory?

  Superordinate, basic - level and subordinate categories.
• What is superordinate category?

  Broad aspects of an object like what category object it is
• Example of superordinate category?

  Type of furniture
• Basic-level category is?

  More detailed description of object like its general name like chair
• Subordinate category is?

  Highly specific like dining chair
• What is the spreading -activation theory of Collins and Loftus?

  Semantic memory is activated when we see / hear / think about a concept which then spreads to other concepts.
• According to Collins and Loftus' spreading activation theory, when is greater activation?

  When concepts are closely related semantically.
• What is the traditional view of concept representation?

  Concept representation is abstract, stable and different.
• What is the traditional view of concept representation called?

  Sandwich model.
• Sandwich Model


  Cognition is sandwiched between perception and action and can be studied without considering them.
• What did Barsalou critique about the sandwich model?

  Assumptions are incorrect and context influences processing
• Grounded Cognition, AKA?


  Barsalou's situated stimulation theory
• What are the main ideas for grounded cognition?

  Concepts are processed using context and involve sensory and perceptual systems

  Conceptual processing is flexible across situations depending on a person's situation and goals.
• Hub-and-spoke view of concepts

  Hub is modality-free control system that integrates conceptual knowledge. Spokes are modality-specific regions of sensory and motor processing that impulses are directed to.
• Script


  Form of schema containing information on the sequence of typical events / patterns like what you do when ordering food at a restaurant.
• What phenomena are evidence of using schemas in memory?

  Brain networks and double association
• Which patients show impaired non-declarative alongside intact declarative memory

  Amnesic patients
• What changes occur in the brain as a result of conceptual and perceptual priming?

  Frontal lobe damage affects conceptual priming

  Occipital lobe damage affects perceptual priming
• What is perceptual priming?


  Repeated presentations of stimulus facilitate perceptual processing

  Evidence : Can easily identify if shown object shortly before
• What is conceptual priming?


  Facilitated processing of stimulus meaning

  Evidence: Can decide faster whether something is dead or alive if we have been shown it recently
• Does frontotemporal / semantic dementia cause problem with scripts?

  Frontotemporal dementia detect more sequencing script errors than those with semantic dementia due to different areas being damaged.
• Why was Borghesani's research important?

  Found conceptual and perceptual processing occurs in different areas after input, which is inconsistent with Barsalou's grounded cognition model, where perceptual processing occurs before conceptual processing.
• Vannuscorps CP findings to grounded cognition

  Inconsistent findings effects of sensorimotor damage and concluded patients with deficits in conceptual processing and objects are due to damage to sensorimotor areas.
• Miller et al. 2018 Task


  PP either used foot or hand movements when reading hand-associated words or foot-associated words.
• Miller et al. 2018 Findings


  Responses faster when words were compatible with limb making response.
• Wu and Barsalou 2009 Findings

  PP give nouns focused on the external properties of the noun, and PP gives noun phrases focused on the internal properties of the noun phrase.
• Wu and Barsalou's findings imply?

  The object qualities are harder to think of than visual cues.
• According to spreading activation theory,

  semantic information is based on semantic distance.