How activation, entanglement, and searching a semantic network contribute to event memory

Journal article


Nelson, Douglas L., Kitto, Kirsty, Galea, David, McEvoy, Cathy L. and Bruza, Peter D.. (2013). How activation, entanglement, and searching a semantic network contribute to event memory. Memory and Cognition. 41(6), pp. 797 - 819. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0312-y
AuthorsNelson, Douglas L., Kitto, Kirsty, Galea, David, McEvoy, Cathy L. and Bruza, Peter D.
Abstract

Free-association norms indicate that words are organized into semantic/associative neighborhoods within a larger network of words and links that bind the net together. We present evidence indicating that memory for a recent word event can depend on implicitly and simultaneously activating related words in its neighborhood. Processing a word during encoding primes its network representation as a function of the density of the links in its neighborhood. Such priming increases recall and recognition and can have long-lasting effects when the word is processed in working memory. Evidence for this phenomenon is reviewed in extralist-cuing, primed free-association, intralist-cuing, and single-item recognition tasks. The findings also show that when a related word is presented in order to cue the recall of a studied word, the cue activates the target in an array of related words that distract and reduce the probability of the target’s selection. The activation of the semantic network produces priming benefits during encoding, and search costs during retrieval. In extralist cuing, recall is a negative function of cue-to-distractor strength, and a positive function of neighborhood density, cue-to-target strength, and target-to-cue strength. We show how these four measures derived from the network can be combined and used to predict memory performance. These measures play different roles in different tasks, indicating that the contribution of the semantic network varies with the context provided by the task. Finally, we evaluate spreading-activation and quantum-like entanglement explanations for the priming effects produced by neighborhood density.

KeywordsActivation; Quantum-like entanglement; Semantic networks; Semantic memory; Working memory; Priming; Extralist cuing; Word recognition; Reminding
Year2013
JournalMemory and Cognition
Journal citation41 (6), pp. 797 - 819
PublisherPsychonomic Society Inc.
ISSN0090-502X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0312-y
Scopus EID2-s2.0-84880749288
Page range797 - 819
Research GroupInstitute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE)
Publisher's version
File Access Level
Controlled
Place of publicationUnited States of America
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