scholarly journals Education shapes the structure of semantic memory and impacts creative thinking

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Solange Denervaud ◽  
Alexander P. Christensen ◽  
Yoed. N. Kenett ◽  
Roger E. Beaty
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Montessori Education ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Hidden Knowledge ◽  
High Connectivity ◽  
Higher Cognitive Functions

AbstractEducation is central to the acquisition of knowledge, such as when children learn new concepts. It is unknown, however, whether educational differences impact not only what concepts children learn, but how those concepts come to be represented in semantic memory—a system that supports higher cognitive functions, such as creative thinking. Here we leverage computational network science tools to study hidden knowledge structures of 67 Swiss schoolchildren from two distinct educational backgrounds—Montessori and traditional, matched on socioeconomic factors and nonverbal intelligence—to examine how educational experience shape semantic memory and creative thinking. We find that children experiencing Montessori education show a more flexible semantic network structure (high connectivity/short paths between concepts, less modularity) alongside higher scores on creative thinking tests. The findings indicate that education impacts how children represent concepts in semantic memory and suggest that different educational experiences can affect higher cognitive functions, including creative thinking.

scholarly journals A Fan Effect for Creative Thought: Semantic Richness Facilitates Idea Quantity but Constrains Idea Quality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Beaty ◽  
Yoed Kenett ◽  
Richard W Hass ◽  
Daniel L. Schacter
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Richness ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Fan Effect

Creative thinking has long been associated with spreading of activation through concepts within semantic memory. Despite its theoretical importance, little is yet known about how semantic memory structure facilitates and constrains idea production. We examine one potential influence on spreading activation during divergent thinking known as the fan effect: increasing knowledge about a concept leads to increasing interference from conceptually related information. Specifically, we tested whether cue association size—an index of semantic richness reflecting the average number of elements associated with a given concept—impacts the quantity (fluency) and quality (originality) of responses generated during the alternate uses task (AUT). We hypothesized that low-association AUT cues should benefit originality at the cost of fluency because such cues are embedded within a semantic network with fewer conceptual elements, thus yielding lesser interference from closely-related concepts. This hypothesis was confirmed in three experiments. Furthermore, we found an interaction with individual differences in fluid intelligence in the low-association AUT cues, suggesting that constraints of sparse semantic knowledge can be overcome with top-down intervention. The findings indicate that semantic richness differentially impacts the quality and quantity of generated ideas, and that cognitive control processes can facilitate idea production when conceptual knowledge is limited.

P4-093: Semantic memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia is associated with semantic network degradation

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. S734-S734
Author(s):  
Kimiko Domoto-Reilly ◽  
Daisy Sapolsky ◽  
Michael Brickhouse ◽  
Mark Hollenbeck ◽  
Brad Dickerson
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Memory Impairment ◽  
Semantic Network

scholarly journals Voluntary control of illusory contour formation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J Harrison ◽  
Reuben Rideaux
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Image Features ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Voluntary Attention ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
Visual Form ◽  
Neural Computations ◽  
Novel Variant ◽  
Higher Cognitive Functions

ABSTRACTThe extent to which visual inference is shaped by attentional goals is unclear. Voluntary attention may simply modulate the priority with which information is accessed by higher cognitive functions involved in perceptual decision making. Alternatively, voluntary attention may influence fundamental visual processes, such as those involved in segmenting an incoming retinal signal into a structured scene of coherent objects, thereby determining perceptual organisation. Here we tested whether the segmentation and integration of visual form can be determined by an observer’s goals by exploiting a novel variant of the classical Kanizsa figure. We generated predictions about the influence of attention with a machine classifier, and tested these predictions with a psychophysical response classification technique. Despite seeing the same image on each trial, observers’ perception of illusory spatial structure depended on their attentional goals. These attention-contingent illusory contours directly conflicted with equally plausible visual form implied by the geometry of the stimulus, revealing that attentional selection can determine the perceived layout of a fragmented scene. Attentional goals, therefore, not only select pre-computed features or regions of space for prioritised processing, but, under certain conditions, also greatly influence perceptual organisation and thus visual appearance.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe extent to which higher cognitive functions can influence perceptual organisation is debated. The role of voluntary spatial attention, the ability to focus on only some parts of a scene, has been particularly controversial among neuroscientists and psychologists who aim to uncover the basic neural computations involved in grouping image features into coherent objects. To address this issue, we repeatedly presented the same novel ambiguous image to observers and changed their attentional goals by having them make fine spatial judgements about only some elements of the image. We found that observers’ attentional goals determine the perceived organisation of multiple illusory shapes. We thus reveal that voluntary spatial attention can control the fundamental processes that determine perceptual organisation.

scholarly journals The neural bases of resilient cognitive systems: Evidence of variable neuro-displacement in the semantic system

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
JeYoung Jung ◽  
Grace E. Rice ◽  
Matthew A. Lambon Ralph
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Neural System ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Dynamic Changes ◽  
Representational System ◽  
Control Networks ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
Higher Cognitive Functions

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to initiate exploration of an equally-important research goal: what are the neurocomputational mechanisms that make these cognitive systems “well engineered” and thus resilient across a range of performance demands and to mild levels of perturbation or even damage? We achieved this aim by investigating the neural dynamics of the semantic network with two task difficulty manipulations. We found that intrinsic resilience-related mechanisms were observed in both the domain-specific semantic representational system and the parallel executive control networks. Functional connectivity between these regions was also increased and these increases were related to better semantic task performance. Our results suggest that higher cognitive functions are made resilient by flexible, dynamic changes (variable neuro-displacement) across both domain-specific and multi-demand networks. Our findings provide strong evidence that the compensatory functional alterations in the impaired brain might reflect intrinsic mechanisms of a well-engineered neural system.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document