Memory Chapter 7. Semantic memory and stored knowledge, 8.

Retrieval
CHAPTER 7

The memory that stores general knowledge that we take for granted is semantic memory. Each person has semantic
overlap, but many of us have greater knowledge of things we are interested. ex. Master Chess Players.

Semantic vs Episodic Memory:

Episodic is memory for events occurring at a specific time in a specific place. Some events use both memory. A key
aspect of episodic is you have a special awareness about everything (feelings, weather,
taste) of the experience. Semantic memory does not have this conscious recollection.
--> Findings: In studying amnesic patients, each had impairments in episodic memory,
but only some had problems with semantic. This suggests they are distinct.
- Jon and Beth had brain damage from birth or age 4, and had poor episodic memories
(but no semantic memories at that time), yet they could still learn different things and
develop semantic memories and language development in school. The above cases are
from those with anterograde amnesic (can't remember info acquired after amnesia).
- With retrograde amnesia (impaired retention of info acquired before amnesia), a
patient named KC had worse amnesia with episodic memory than for semantic. The
opposite results can also be found in other patients.
- Differences in brain activity areas were found when using each type of memory as
well.

ORGANIZATION OF CONCEPTS: TRADITIONAL VIEWS

Storing Simple Concepts

- Loftus found that giving people the category with the letter of the word after leads to faster responses than giving
the letter than the category. This means is easier to activate the category fruit in preparation for searching for the
right initial letter than all words starting with, say p. THis is probably because fruit is a reasonable category and words
that start with p is much larger.
ex. Students who were just starting or have been specializing is psychology tried to name different types of
psychologists under the categories of the types of psychologists. Those who were specializing responded faster to
Developmental Psychologist- P than those who were just starting probably because they already had these
categories. It didn't matter what was presented first for then novices. (eg, “Give me a developmental psychologist
whose name begins with P” (Piaget) versus “Initial letter P–a developmental psychologist.”)

--> How are concepts organized in semantic memory?

Because it takes us no time at all to respond to semantic questions, it would appear the knowledge is highly
organized or structured.
•Hierarchical Network Model: semantic
memory is organized into a series of hierarchical
networks. There are nodes that have properties
associated with each concept. Property info
(such as "can fly") is stored as high up the
hierarchy as possible to minimize the amount of
info that needs to be stored. It is not stored with
every possible type of bird as a property.
ORganization in semantic memory is based on a
principle of cognitive economy.
ex. P's had to answer T/F questions as quickly as possible. Alcohol slows down the rate of answering. Verifying the
canary is yellow should be done quicker than the canary can fly, because can fly is stored one level up. THe time
taken to respond to true sentences is slower as the separation between the subject of the sentence and the property
became greater. -> → hierarchical distance is of no importance
 • We can infer that Da Vinci had knees because he was a human, not because its stored directly in our
semantic memory. The problem with this is familarity. When familiarity was controlled, hierarchical distance
between the subject and property had little effect on verification time.
• Another problem is the issue of how typical a subject is of a category (canary vs penguin). Some members of
a category are more typical than others and
verification times are faster for more typical
objects.
--> Typicality Gradient. More typical members
posses more of the characteristics associated with
that category than do less typical ones. This all
means that categories are loosely determined. For
example, what are the defining characteristics of a
game (chess, soccer, poker, tennis?). These all tend
to share characteristics, but they all don't share the same ones. For tricky questions such as is a stroke a
disease, people are unsure and different a lot in their answers, and they are easily switched, showing the
boundaries in semantic memory is fuzzy.

Spreading Activation Model: Semantic memory id organized on the basis of semantic relatedness or distance. People
can be asked to list as many members as they can of a category and those listed most often are most closely related.
In a depicting of a semantic network, the length of the links between two concepts indicates the degree of semantic
relatedness between them. Whenever someone hears, sees or thinks about a concept, the appropriate node in
semantic memory is activated. The activation then spreads most strongly to other concepts that are closely related

• ex.P's had to decide as quickly as possible if a string of letters formed a word. In the key condition, a
given word was preceded by a semantically related word or by an unrelated word. According to the
model, activation should have spread from the first word to the second only when they were
semantically related. (Butter should be identified faster when preceded by bread, than by nurse). This
occurred.
• ex. P's were presented with words related to a target word and then on a recognition test, P's incorrectly
thought the target word was presented because all the related words activated it. Brain activity was the
same for falsely recognizing the target and correctly recognizing the real words presented
• .Problems with this flexible model is it doesn't make very precise predictions.
(Spreading activation model (Collins & Loftus): it is preferable to assume that semantic memory is
organized on the basis of semantic relatedness or semantic distance; when the appropriate node in
semantic memory is activated, the activation spreads most strongly to other concepts that are closely
related semantically and more weakly to those more distant semantically → semantic priming)

Naming objects
In categorizing objects, people often prefer the basic-level category (e.g., "chair") due to
its balance of informativeness and distinctiveness. This contrasts with superordinate (e.g.,
"furniture") and subordinate (e.g., "easy chair") categories. Basic-level categories are
associated with similar motor interactions and are typically learned first by children.

Experts may use subordinate categories more often, as seen in birdwatchers and dog
experts naming birds and dogs. Cultural factors and close contact with the environment
influence categorization preferences. Notably, faces are commonly categorized at the
subordinate level.

While people generally prefer basic-level categorization, it doesn't necessarily mean it's
the fastest. Superordinate categorization is often quicker, requiring less cognitive
processing. The choice between levels depends on factors like familiarity and expertise. Categorization speed may
vary based on available processing time, and patients with semantic dementia show interesting patterns in
categorization performance at different levels. In conclusion, all three hierarchical levels have their value in
categorization, each serving specific cognitive and contextual purposes.
USING CONCEPTS

Barsalou's situated simulation theory

Traditional Assumptions about Concept Representations:

1. Abstract Nature: Traditional theories assume that concept representations are abstract and detached from
sensory and motor processes.

2. Stability: It is believed that individuals use the same representation of a concept consistently.

3. Similarity Across Individuals: Different people generally have fairly similar representations of any given
concept.

Situated Simulation Theory (Barsalou):

1. Context Dependence: Barsalou argues that concepts are rarely processed in iszogatóin but rather in various
settings, influenced by the current context or setting.

2. Variability Across Situations: Representations of a concept can vary across situations based on an
individual's current goals and the features of the
situation.

3. Example with Bicycle Concept: Barsalou uses

the example of a bicycle to illustrate that
different aspects of the concept may be
activated depending on the individual's goals
(e.g., focusing on tires when repairing, on
saddle height when riding).

Perceptual and Motor Involvement:

1. Perceptual and Motor Systems: Barsalou's theory suggests that the conceptual
system extensively uses the perceptual and motor systems.

2. Evidence from Studies: Studies by Wu and Barsalou (2009), Bub et al. (2008),
and Connell et al. (2012) provide evidence that conceptual processing involves
perceptual and motor features.

Limitations and Evaluation:

1. Exaggeration of Variability: Critics argue that Barsalou may exaggerate the extent to which concept
processing varies across situations. There is a suggestion that both stable cores and context-dependent
structures may coexist.

2. Interpretation of Perceptual and Motor Involvement: The interpretation of whether perceptual and motor
processes are central to understanding concept meaning or occur after accessing meaning remains
somewhat inconclusive.

Abstract Concepts and Emotional Associations:

1. Relevance to Abstract Concepts: Barsalou and Wiemer-Hastings (2005) reported evidence suggesting that
even abstract concepts like truth, freedom, and invention may involve perceptual properties.

2. Emotional Associations: Some abstract concepts with emotional associations, like peace and hostility, may
also have concrete aspects that influence processing.

When we process concepts such as pressing a doorbell or holding a mug do we access our knowledge of the
relevant movement?
Yes, when we process concepts such as pressing a doorbell or holding a mug, we do indeed access our knowledge of
the relevant movement. The study by Bub, Masson, and Cree (2008) is mentioned to address this issue. In their
study, participants learned specific movements associated with different color cues (e.g., red = poke; blue = open
grasp). When words referring to objects were presented in these colors, participants made the learned movements
to the corresponding color.

CONCEPTS AND THE BRAIN

Key Points:

1. Hub-and-Spoke Model: The model proposes that concepts are represented in the brain through a
combination of a modality-independent "hub" and modality-specific "spokes." The hub is a unified
conceptual representation, assumed to be located in the anterior temporal lobes, while spokes consist of
various modality-specific brain areas related to sensory and motor processing.

2. Semantic Memory Storage: Semantic memories are not stored in a single location in the brain. Instead,
different types of information about a concept (e.g., visual, auditory, motor) may be stored in different brain
areas. This feature-based approach is consistent with the role of perceptual and motor features in concept
processing.

3. Hub Function: The hub is crucial for integrating knowledge about a given concept efficiently. Evidence
supporting the existence of hubs comes from studies on patients with semantic dementia who exhibit severe
loss of information when the anterior temporal lobes, assumed hub locations, are damaged.

4. Spokes Function: Spokes represent modality-specific processing areas responsible for sensory and motor
information related to a concept. These include areas for visual features, verbal descriptors, olfaction,
sounds, praxis (motor information), and somatosensory information.

5. Neuroimaging Support: Neuroimaging studies, including meta-analyses, support the role of the anterior
lateral lobes in hub processing. The activation of these areas during semantic memory tasks aligns with the
hub-and-spoke model.

6. Category-Specific Deficits: Patients with brain damage may exhibit category-specific deficits, such as
difficulty identifying pictures of living things compared to nonliving things. These deficits can be explained by
factors like greater contour overlap, structural complexity, and visual dissimilarity in living things.

7. TMS Studies: Transcranial magnetic stimulation

(TMS) studies, applying TMS to the anterior
temporal lobe or inferior parietal lobule, provide
further support for the model. The expected
changes in naming times for different categories
of objects align with the predictions of the hub-
and-spoke model.

Limitations:

1. Concept Hub Information: The model acknowledges that more needs to be discovered about the
information contained within concept hubs. Questions remain, such as whether more information is stored
in the hubs of very familiar concepts compared to less familiar ones.

2. Integration of Spoke Information: The integration process between modality-specific "spoke" information
and modality-independent "hub" information is not fully understood. How these different types of
information interact and contribute to overall concept representation requires further exploration.

3. Concept Spokes: There is still no consensus on the number and nature of concept "spokes." The model
identifies several modality-specific spokes, but the full extent of the variety and specificity of these spokes
remains an open question.

Schemas:
well-integrated chunk of knowledge about the world, events, people or actions. What we remember is influenced by
the schematic knowledge we already posses. Schemas stored in semantic memory are called scripts and frames.
-> Scripts deal with knowledge about events and consequences of events.
->Frames are knowledge structures referring to some aspect of the world containing fixed structural information and
slots for variable information.

Typical info found is a script is what you think of when you think of what you do in a restaruant. Many people usually
converge on what they think of.
1. Schemas allow us to form expectations. ex. We expect to be shown a table in food places, given a menu, etc. They
help make the world predictable because our expectations are usually confirmed. When events do not meet our
schema based expectations we remember them as distinctive
. 2. Schemas play an important role in reading and listening because they help us fill in the gaps of what we have
heard to enhance our understanding. They allow us to draw inferences. ex. WHen given a schema (laundry) you
better under stand ambiguous stories talking about the procedures of doing laundry. Stories don't have to be
ambiguous for us to use schematic knowledge. We use it all the time to interpret and elaborate on stories. We are
generally not aware of doing this.
3. Schematic knowledge can assist us when we perceive visual scenes. When presented with a scene (kitchen),
followed by a brief image (loaf or mailbox). The object was more easily identified when it followed the context (loaf),
so the activation of semantic knowledge facilitated visual perception.

--> Errors and Distortions: after giving P's the story of that War of the
Ghosts, when they had to recall it, it was much shorter, more coherent, and
fit with the P's own viewpoint than the original story. It's especially true
when features of the story are incompatible with our own culture.
->Systematic errors in recall are due to schematic knowledge. This being
said, Bartletts experiments never had real data, instructions were vague, and
the recalling was more guessing that problems in memory.
->Another person emphasized accurate recall and errors were down half of what
Bartlett found.
ex. P's were shown a grad students office for 35 seconds and then asked to recall
things in it through free recall and a recognition task. There were schema consistent
and inconsistent objects present, and some consistent objects were not present. P's
recalled more schema consistent objects, even for those that were not present.
Objects that were not in the room but were consistent (books) were recognized with
high confidence, showing errors in memory.
-> Most P's recognized more objects than they recalled. ex. When given info about
controversial issues, people tend to remember that info consistent with their views
better than inconsistent info.
--> Consistency Bias. When people are knowledgeable about the subject, and
consistent and inconsistent info is presented, P's will remember both well because
there is schematic support for both. When you don't know much, consistency bias occurs.
--> Evaluation: Schema-based theories are vague. We possess schemas but we do not
know the nature of them.
- Theories don;t really say when we use schematic knowledge to draw inferences. Studies
show that high readers draw inferences more quickly that medium or low readers,
meaning they find it easier to access schematic knowledge.
- Our memory representations are often richer and more complex than is implied by
schema theories.
- Schema theory thinks we make more errors than we do so we seem to be better at
discriminating between schema-based and text-based info than is assumed.

Disorders of concept and schema-based memory: There are two types of info in semantic
memory.
•Abstract concepts corresponding to single words
•Broader more flexible organizational structures based on schemas and scripts
- Patients may have a greater impairment of conceptual than of schematic knowledge and others may show the
opposite pattern.
- There are patients withsemantic dementia. Severe problems in accessing the meanings or words and objects but
good executive functioning at the beginning of deterioration. These patients can do some things but can't tell you the
meaning of other things. They know things that are functionally associated with objects, but cannot use objects that
are not in a usual place.
- Some people with damage to the prefrontal cortex have trouble with scripts.

CHAPTER 8

Often, memories are stored perfectly well but we have difficulty retrieving them

On the tip of the tongue: this is proof our memory contains things we cannot access.
When P's are given definitions of words and they have the answer on the tip of their
tongue, they can tell how many syllables and what the word starts with more than chance.
The feeling that you know something is a good indication that you do, but you need the
right prompts. When asked to describe as much as possible about the word they cannot
find, people tend do to better than chance and when
the initial letter is given the word almost immediately
pops up → our memory contains more information
than we can access at any given moment, resulting in
on-the-tip-of-the-tongue

The Retrieval Process: During retrieval, we are usually

seeking a particular memory called a target memory
or target trace. When asked about what you had for
dinner last night, it is a retrieval cue that helps you
search memory for the answer.
- Retrieval: a progression from one or more cues to a
target memory via associative connections through
the process of spreading activation, with the aim of
making that target available to influence ongoing
cognition.
- Traces in memory are linked to one another by associations or links. Associations are structural links between
traces that vary in strength. Many things work as cues. Any aspect of the content of a memory can serve as a
reminder that could access the experience- content addressable memory.
- Retrieval occurs through spreading activation: Each memory has an internal state of its own, reflecting how active it
is (activation level). The level varies and determines how accessible a trace is in memory. The level increases when
something related to it is perceived in the world, o when attention is focused directly on the trace. This activation
persists for a while, even after attention is removed.
- Memories automatically spread activation to other memories to which they are associated.

Factors Determining Retrieval Success:

•Attention to cues: retrieval is less effective if cues are present, but not attended, or not attended enough. You can
remove attention from cues by giving people a secondary task to perform during retrieval. Retrieval is usually worse.
Effects of divided attention are largest when you have to generate items from memory (recall), but recognition tasks
impair recall too. Retrieval is reduced even when the secondary task is unrelated, but its usually not by much.
However, if the task is more demanding, retrieval is impaired more. Dividing attention at
encoding is the worst.

•Relevance of cues: if the cue is unrelated, retrieval won't happen. Sometimes cues that
maybe should be effective are not because they are not present during encoding.
Encoding Specificity Principle: for a cue to be useful, it needs to be present at encoding
and encoded with the desired trace.
P's were given target words for recall and each one had a cue that had a weak associated with the word. After
encoding, P's were asked to recall the words either with or without the cue. Cue words increased recall of the targets
meaning they are powerful for recall. Not all cues should be equally good though. Table would seem to cue chair, but
if glue was presented at encoding, it will be a better cue.

•Cue-target associative strength: retrieval can fail if cues are relevant but weak. The strength of the association
determines how fast activation spreads between a cue and a target. The time and attention spent encoding is
important.

•Number of cues: retrieval improves when more relevant cues are added. Both cues will become activated which will
spread to the target and the target should grow active quickly with the two sources of information. Generating an
answer with one cue is lower than having two cues (retrieval goes from 14-19 percent to 97%!).

•Strength of Target Memory: if a memory is weakly encoded, even good cues may not help. Higher-frequency words
are better recalled.

•Retrieval Strategy: you can try to recall from different perspectives. P's were told a story with a number of items in
a home. They adopted the perspective of a burglar or a
homebuyer and each recalled the same amount of
items, but they items differed. In a subsequent task, they
reread the story and either had the same perspective or
the opposite one, and the P's with the opposite one
remembered significantly more items.

•Retrieval Mode: we have to be in the right frame of

mind to recollect our past. THere are cues all around us
but we don't constantly have memories. Spontaneous
memories do occur though. For retrieval to be effective,
it is necessary to adopt a cognitive set that ensures that
stimuli will be processed as probes of episodic memory.
There is greater prefrontal activity in the right frontal
cortex- an area involved in attentional control, when
people were preparing to retrieve than when they were
preparing to make a semantic judgement. Also, when
people do several episodic judgements correctly, their
judgement accuracy and speed improved with each trial,
proving it goes take time to get into the swing of things

CONTEXT CUES

context is circumstances under which a stimulus has been encoded. Retrieval is

often influenced by context. You must also consider spatial-temporal context so
when your roomy asks if you took out the trash, you don't recall a time last week
when you did. There are mood contexts, which is the emotional state a person was
in when the event occurred. There is a physiological context which is the physical
state you were in. There is cognitive context which is a collection of concepts that
one has thought about in the temporal vicinity of the event.

Retrieval tasks -
Direct Memory Tests: these tests ask people to retrieve their past. They require context as a cue. The number of cues
given, the amount to be retrieved and the involvement of retrieval strategies are all varied.

• Free recall relies on context the most heavily because people must retrieve an entire set of studied items
without overt cues. Answering "what did you do today?" is free recall. This test is sensitive to ones skills at
organizing info at encoding, and selecting strategies at retrieval.
 • Cued recall provides additional cues and mimic situations where we are recalling a particular item or
experience in response to a cue. It requires context as a cue but context is supplemented with specific info to
focus the search. This is often easier than free recall.
• Recognition tests are usually the easiest type of direct test but its only a decision if you encountered the
stimulus.

Indirect Memory Tests: Cryptomnesia: people

believe they are creating something new, but
they are just recalling a similar work they have
encountered. Memories may be able to
influence us unconsciously.

• Indirect tests measure the influence of

experience without asking the person
to recall the past. The tests try to
make P's not think they are
memorizing, and later retrieving
things.
• Lexical decision task: P's are presented with nonwords and words and have to decide ASAP if the word is a
real word
• Perceptual Identification Task: P's are presented with a brief word, covered by a visual mask to make them
difficult to see and P's must state the word they saw.
• Word Fragment Completion Task or Word Stem Completion tasks: people list the first word that comes to
mind to fill in the blank or unscramble the letters.

- In each of the tasks, people are better at doing them to previously viewed words even when unaware of the
connection. –

• Conceptually Driven Indirect Tests: if you are given semantic categories and are asked to generate as
many members of each as possible (conceptual fluency), you are more likely to list words you have seen
that day.
• Direct tests do not require recall of the past, so context is not used intentionally as a cue. Despite this
absence, recent experience with a stimulus improves performance which is repetition priming.

Explicit memory is supported by additional contextual representations in the hippocampus. Some people may think
people just remember the words they saw before, but P's say they are unaware, and amnesic patients show these
results. Their explicit memory is impaired, but their implicit memory is okay.

THE IMPORTANCE OF INCIDENTAL CONTEXT IN EPISODIC MEMORY RETRIEVAL

- Context Dependent Memory: the match of the current context to one we are retrieving matters.

1. Environmental context-dependent memory: When you go downstairs for tea, then you when get there, you forget
why you are there, you can remember by going back upstairs, into the environment where the event was originally
encoded. For example, divers watch the behavior of fish and have to report it afterwards, but they forget many
details because its a different context. After being presented unrelated words on the beach or under water, material
learned underwater was best recalled underwater, and material
learned on land was best recalled on land.
◦ One explanation for this is people need to pay some attention to
the physical environment during encoding. An inward focus of
attention during encoding reduces or eliminates incidental context
effects.
◦ Context- dependent memory effects grow in size as they delay
between encoding and retrieval increases. THis is why visiting a
childhood home after years of absence makes people flooded with
memories not thought about in years.
◦ To try to remember something encoded in a different context, it helps to remember the physical environment and
objects present.

2.State-dependent memory: heavy drinkers who hide money and alcohol when they are drunk, cannot remember
where it is when they are sober and when they become drunk again, they remember. What is learned drunk, is best
recalled when drunk. This has been shown for other drugs. State-dependency is observed only when memory is
tested by recall and disappears when recognition is used. This state-dependent memory is also shown when people
are working out, meaning when presented words, while working out, they are better recalled when working out.

• Mood-congurent and mood-dependent memory: when depressed people

are asked to recall autobiographical memories, they recall unhappy memories.
This has been shown with people who fluctuate in mood, and when they are
sad, less happy memories are recalled. This is mood-congruent memory: the
greater ease in recalling events that have an emotional tone that matches the
current mood of the person. Thus, its easier to recall happy memories in a
happy mood etc. A problem with depression may be that they can only recall
sad memories, deepening their depression. Don't make hasty decisions in a
powerful mood state. Mood-congruent is interesting, but is not a
demonstration of context-dependent memory. ◦ Mood-dependent memory is
when the ease with which a memory is recalled depends on the match in mood
state between encoding and retrieval, not on the congruency of what is
recalled with the retrieval mood state. This has been shown.

Reconstructive Memory: an active and inferential process of retrieval whereby gaps in

memory are filled in based on prior experience, logic and goals.
- In trying to remember who someone is, there is an automatic retrieval process where
info pops up for no reason. When the info does not spring to mind, we take the fragments
and use them like a detective uses a clue. Reconstruction is driven by background
knowledge that suggests plausible inferences. These inferences may lead us to remember
things when we are not.
ex. P's were told a story about a problem child, and a week later were tested for the
memory. Half were told the story was actually about Helen Keller. These P's were more
likely to recall sentences that which "she was deaf, dumb and blind" when they were not
present.

RECOGNITION MEMORY

Recognition Memory: recognition requires the intact stimulus and requires a judgement. These tests require a
discrimination between stimuli that a person experienced in a particular context
and thats that didn't happen. The new items are called distractors.

- A person’s ability to correctly decide whether they have encountered a stimulus

previously in a particular context - Forced-choice recognition task: distractors
presented with an old item simultaneously
- Yes/no recognition test: decide whether an item is old, with old and new items
intermixed
- Signal detection memory as a model of recognition memory
o Judgements are made based on familiarity, depending on how much attention
the item received at encoding or how many times it was repeated
o Memory traces have strength values that reflect their activation in memory, which dictate how familiar they seem
o New items will have familiarity as well, although usually less than items that have been studied
o The average familiarity of old items will be higher than the average for new items due to the recent exposure of old
items
o People are thought to set a criterion for judging oldness, which helps to define what a judgement bias is
 o Word frequency effect: low-frequency words are better recognized than
highfrequency words
- Dual-process accounts of recognition memory
o Familiarity-based recognition: make a judgement based on how familiar a stimulus
seems
 Fast, automatic, yielding, output, a perception of the memory’s strength without the
recall of particulars
 Knowing
o Recollection: recognize something by recalling the particulars of an experience
 Slow, attention demanding, involves generating information about the context of
experiencing the stimulus
 Remembering
o Dual-process theory: both familiarity-based recognition and recollection contribute to
recognition
o Remember/know procedure: separate the influences of familiarity and recollection on
recognition performance
o Process dissociation procedure: a technique of parcelling out the contributions of recollection and familiarity within
a recognition task
 Uses two different modalities, only respond to the items from one of the modalities → false alarms provide an
estimation of the familiarity based contribution

o Recollection is far more sensitive to disruption by distraction

Source monitoring
:we often have the need to identify the source of what we retrieve. The process of examining the origins of what we
retrieve and deciding whether it is from a particular source is source coding.
- This misattribution of the source of your recollections is source misattribution error. (you grandma forgetting which
hobbies you like vs your cousin). The evaluate a source, contextual details need to be recollected so that people can
ascertain a memory's origins. This occurs by exploiting regularities in the information we receive from different
sources. Sometimes people mistake imagined details for perceptual experience.