Semantic Processing, Semantic Memory, and Recall

1985 ◽  
pp. 247-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laraine Masters Glidden
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Memory And Recall

Semantic Cognition: Semantic Memory and Semantic Control

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Jefferies ◽  
Xiuyi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Conceptual Representations ◽  
Semantic Cognition ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Functional Features

Semantic processing is a defining feature of human cognition, central not only to language, but also to object recognition, the generation of appropriate actions, and the capacity to use knowledge in reasoning, planning, and problem-solving. Semantic memory refers to our repository of conceptual or factual knowledge about the world. This semantic knowledge base is typically viewed as including “general knowledge” as well as schematic representations of objects and events distilled from multiple experiences and retrieved independently from their original spatial or temporal context. Semantic cognition refers to our ability to flexibly use this knowledge to produce appropriate thoughts and behaviors. Semantic cognition includes at least two interactive components: a long-term store of semantic knowledge and semantic control processes, each supported by a different network. Conceptual representations are organized according to the semantic relationships between items, with different theories proposing different key organizational principles, including sensory versus functional features, domain-specific theory, embodied distributed concepts, and hub-and-spoke theory, in which distributed features are integrated within a heteromodal hub in the anterior temporal lobes. The activity within the network for semantic representation must often be controlled to ensure that the system generates representations and inferences that are suited to the immediate task or context. Semantic control is thought to include both controlled retrieval processes, in which knowledge relevant to the goal or context is accessed in a top-down manner when automatic retrieval is insufficient for the task, and post-retrieval selection to resolve competition between simultaneously active representations. Control of semantic retrieval is supported by a strongly left-lateralized brain network, which partially overlaps with the bilateral network that supports domain-general control, but extends beyond these sites to include regions not typically associated with executive control, including anterior inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus. The interaction of semantic control processes with conceptual representations allows meaningful thoughts and behavior to emerge, even when the context requires non-dominant features of the concept to be brought to the fore.

Primary progressive semantic aphasia: A case study

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW KERTESZ ◽  
WILDA DAVIDSON ◽  
PATRICIA McCABE
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Category Specificity ◽  
Object Categories ◽  
Sensory Aphasia ◽  
Definition Of

A longitudinal case study of a patient with a progressive loss of meaning of objects with preserved phonology and syntax is presented. Repeated measures of language, praxis, visual cognition, and semantic processing were carried out. The patient still has preserved conversational speech, social skills, and orientation in her 8th year of her illness, but shows severe anomia and comprehension deficit in all modalities of stimulus presentation. In addition to standardized tests of language, cognition, and memory, specific experiments of categorization, modalities of word access, item consistency, category specificity, and definition of words were carried out. Results indicate a frequency dependent loss of meaning that was consistent in all modalities and throughout all object categories. However, the relative preservation of visual categorization of all categories tested and the language based categorization of animals suggested some fractionation of semantic memory. Relative preservation of autobiographical and personal memories versus semantic memory was a striking observation. Evidence for selective impairment of central semantic processing was obtained from experiments indicating item consistency of loss and the lack of semantic cuing. Neuroimaging evidence of left temporal lobe atrophy and the classical picture is compatible with similar cases published under the term semantic dementia or “transcortical sensory aphasia with visual agnosia” and suggest the diagnosis of Pick's disease. (JINS, 1998, 4, 388–398.)

scholarly journals Neural correlates of lexical-semantic memory: A voxel-based morphometry study in mild AD, aMCI and normal aging

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-77
Author(s):  
Marcio L.F. Balthazar ◽  
Clarissa L. Yasuda ◽  
Tátila M. Lopes ◽  
Fabrício R.S. Pereira ◽  
Benito Pereira Damasceno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Semantic Networks ◽  
Normal Aging ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Voxel Based Morphometry ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Semantic Errors

Abstract Neuroanatomical correlations of naming and lexical-semantic memory are not yet fully understood. The most influential approaches share the view that semantic representations reflect the manner in which information has been acquired through perception and action, and that each brain area processes different modalities of semantic representations. Despite these anatomical differences in semantic processing, generalization across different features that have similar semantic significance is one of the main characteristics of human cognition. Methods: We evaluated the brain regions related to naming, and to the semantic generalization, of visually presented drawings of objects from the Boston Naming Test (BNT), which comprises different categories, such as animals, vegetables, tools, food, and furniture. In order to create a model of lesion method, a sample of 48 subjects presenting with a continuous decline both in cognitive functions, including naming skills, and in grey matter density (GMD) was compared to normal young adults with normal aging, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). Semantic errors on the BNT, as well as naming performance, were correlated with whole brain GMD as measured by voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Results: The areas most strongly related to naming and to semantic errors were the medial temporal structures, thalami, superior and inferior temporal gyri, especially their anterior parts, as well as prefrontal cortices (inferior and superior frontal gyri). Conclusion: The possible role of each of these areas in the lexical-semantic networks was discussed, along with their contribution to the models of semantic memory organization.

Wechsler Memory Scale, Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test, and Everyday Memory Questionnaire in Healthy Adults and Alzheimer Patients

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Efklides ◽  
Efterpi Yiultsi ◽  
Theopisti Kangellidou ◽  
Fotini Kounti ◽  
Fotini Dina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Healthy Adults ◽  
Gender Effects ◽  
Everyday Memory ◽  
Wechsler Memory Scale ◽  
Everyday Memory Questionnaire ◽  
Behavioral Memory ◽  
Memory Questionnaire

Summary: The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) is a laboratory-based memory test that has been criticized for its lack of ecological validity and for not testing long-term memory. A more recent memory test, which aims at testing everyday memory, is the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT); it tests prospective memory and other forms of memory not tapped by WMS. However, even this test does not capture all aspects of everyday memory problems often reported by adults. These problems are the object of the Everyday Memory Questionnaire (EMQ). This study aimed at identifying the relationships between these three memory tests. The differential effect of Alzheimer's disease (AD) on the above relationships was also studied. The sample consisted of 233 healthy adults (20 to 75+ years of age) and 39 AD patients (50 to 75 years of age). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the following latent factors: Verbal Memory, Visual Reconstruction, Orientation, Message (action embedded in spatial context), Visual Recognition, Spatial Memory, New Learning/Association Forming, Prospective/Episodic Memory, and Metamemory. These first-order factors were further explained by two second-order factors: Semantic Memory and Coordination of Semantic and Visuo-Spatial Memory. This basic structure was preserved in the sample of AD patients, although AD patients performed less well on the WMS and the RBMT. Some interesting findings regarding semantic memory, face recognition, and metamemory in AD patients are also reported. Age, education, but no gender effects on memory performance were also detected.

Mapping the Structure of Semantic Memory

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Sofia Morais ◽  
Henrik Olsson ◽  
Lael J. Schooler
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Memory
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