scholarly journals The Internal Structure of Semantic Relations: Effects of Relational Similarity and Typicality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vencislav Popov ◽  
Margarita Pavlova ◽  
Penka Hristova
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Associate Learning ◽  
Relational Similarity ◽  
Analogical Mapping ◽  
Item Level ◽  
Two Factors

We examined whether the processing of semantic relations shows typicality effects similar to those found for the processing of entity concepts. Participants performed four relational processing tasks with the same set of word-pair stimuli: relational exemplar generation; similarity ranking; analogical verification; and a paired-associate learning task. In the similarity ranking task, we gathered separate rankings for relational, role and semantic similarity between word pairs. We found significant correlations at the item level among relational generation frequencies, analogical verification RTs/accuracy and relational luring in associative memory. Relational similarity predicted exemplar generation frequencies, analogical verification RTs/accuracy, and relational luring in associative memory. Role similarity predicted exemplar generation frequency, and analogical verification RTs, but not relational luring. Semantic similarity did not predict any of the tasks, after controlling for the other two factors. Contrary to current theories which posit that semantic similarity is more important for retrieving relevant analogues, and that analogical mapping is based on role-filler bindings, relational similarity was the strongest predictor across all tasks. These results suggest that just like entity concepts, semantic relations have an internal structure that gives rise to typicality effects across a variety of tasks, which could provide constraints for testing competing theories of relational representation.

scholarly journals Deterioration of visuospatial associative memory following a first psychotic episode: a long-term follow-up study

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. J. Wannan ◽  
C. F. Bartholomeusz ◽  
V. L. Cropley ◽  
T. E. Van Rheenen ◽  
A. Panayiotou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Associative Memory ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Psychotic Episode ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
Associate Learning ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Memory Ability

BackgroundCognitive deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia, and impairments in most domains are thought to be stable over the course of the illness. However, cross-sectional evidence indicates that some areas of cognition, such as visuospatial associative memory, may be preserved in the early stages of psychosis, but become impaired in later established illness stages. This longitudinal study investigated change in visuospatial and verbal associative memory following psychosis onset.MethodsIn total 95 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and 63 healthy controls (HC) were assessed on neuropsychological tests at baseline, with 38 FEP and 22 HCs returning for follow-up assessment at 5–11 years. Visuospatial associative memory was assessed using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery Visuospatial Paired-Associate Learning task, and verbal associative memory was assessed using Verbal Paired Associates subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale - Revised.ResultsVisuospatial and verbal associative memory at baseline did not differ significantly between FEP patients and HCs. However, over follow-up, visuospatial associative memory deteriorated significantly for the FEP group, relative to healthy individuals. Conversely, verbal associative memory improved to a similar degree observed in HCs. In the FEP cohort, visuospatial (but not verbal) associative memory ability at baseline was associated with functional outcome at follow-up.ConclusionsAreas of cognition that develop prior to psychosis onset, such as visuospatial and verbal associative memory, may be preserved early in the illness. Later deterioration in visuospatial memory ability may relate to progressive structural and functional brain abnormalities that occurs following psychosis onset.

scholarly journals Distributed Code for Semantic Relations Predicts Neural Similarity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey N. Chiang ◽  
Yujia Peng ◽  
Hongjing Lu ◽  
Keith J. Holyoak ◽  
Martin M. Monti
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Sequential Presentation ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Distributed Representations ◽  
Relational Similarity ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe ability to generate and process semantic relations is central to many aspects of human cognition. Theorists have long debated whether such relations are coded as atomistic links in a semantic network, or as distributed patterns over some core set of abstract relations. The form and content of the conceptual and neural representations of semantic relations remains to be empirically established. The present study combined computational modeling and neuroimaging to investigate the representation and comparison of abstract semantic relations in the brain. By using sequential presentation of verbal analogies, we decoupled the neural activity associated with encoding the representation of the first-order semantic relation between words in a pair from that associated with the second-order comparison of two relations. We tested alternative computational models of relational similarity in order to distinguish between rival accounts of how semantic relations are coded and compared in the brain. Analyses of neural similarity patterns supported the hypothesis that semantic relations are coded, in the parietal cortex, as distributed representations over a pool of abstract relations specified in a theory-based taxonomy. These representations, in turn, provide the immediate inputs to the process of analogical comparison, which draws on a broad frontoparietal network. This study sheds light not only on the form of relation representations but also on their specific content.SignificanceRelations provide basic building blocks for language and thought. For the past half century, cognitive scientists exploring human semantic memory have sought to identify the code for relations. In a neuroimaging paradigm, we tested alternative computational models of relation processing that predict patterns of neural similarity during distinct phases of analogical reasoning. The findings allowed us to draw inferences not only about the form of relation representations, but also about their specific content. The core of these distributed representations is based on a relatively small number of abstract relation types specified in a theory-based taxonomy. This study helps to resolve a longstanding debate concerning the nature of the conceptual and neural code for semantic relations in the mind and brain.

Effect of Motivating Instructions on Verbal Learning According to Age and Race

1980 ◽  
Vol 46 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1167-1170
Author(s):  
Robert G. Summerlin ◽  
Charles V. Lair ◽  
William N. Confer
Keyword(s):  
Paired Associate ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Paired Associate Learning ◽  
Instructional Condition ◽  
Associate Learning

Young and old white ( n = 48) and black ( n = 48) women were compared on a paired-associate learning task. The groups were divided as to a motivational instructional condition of support, challenge, or neutral. Both the younger and the white groups had more correct responses and learned in fewer trials. A three-way interaction suggests that old blacks make more errors of omission and commission under supportive instructions, whereas young whites do best under challenge. Various trends and implications for these findings were discussed.

TagClusters

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Xi Chen ◽  
Rodrigo Santamaría ◽  
Andreas Butz ◽  
Roberto Therón
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Comparative Evaluation ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Spatial Distance ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Alphabetical Order

Many online communities use TagClouds, an aesthetic and easy to understand visualization, to represent popular tags collaboratively generated by their users. However, due to the free nature of tagging, such collaborative tags have linguistic problems and limitations, such as high semantic density. Moreover, the alphabetical order of TagClouds poorly supports a hierarchical exploration among tags. This paper presents an exploration to support semantic understanding of collaborative tags beyond TagClouds. Based on the results of the authors’ survey of practical usages of collaborative tags, they developed a visualization named TagClusters, in which tags are clustered into different groups, with font size representing tag popularity and the spatial distance indicating the semantic similarity between tags. The subgroups in each group and the overlap between groups are highlighted, illustrating the underlying hierarchical structure and semantic relations between groups. The authors conducted a comparative evaluation with TagClouds and TagClusters based on the same tag set. The results confirmed the advantage of TagClusters in facilitating browsing, comparing and comprehending semantic relations between tags.

Experimentally Induced Single and Repeated Personal Name Confusions: The Impact of Phonological and Semantic Similarity

2019 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 781-805
Author(s):  
Manuel Dupont
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Phonological Similarity ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Semantic Code ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
First Results ◽  
Phonological Similarities ◽  
The Impact

Three experiments investigated a common but intriguing phenomenon, that is, repeated personal name confusion, a phenomenon at the border between language and memory. The purpose of those experiments was to evaluate the impact of the semantic and phonological similarities on name confusion and to compare repeated naming confusions (i.e., repeatedly confounding two names) with single confusions (i.e., confounding two names only once) in a same experimental paradigm. In all experiments, participants (64 middle-aged participants for each experiment) were asked to memorize the association between 16 names and 16 faces (face-name learning task). In Experiments 1 and 2, the two studied variables were the phonological similarity between the confused names and the semantic similarity between the two bearers of the confused names (using a visually derived semantic code in Experiment 1 and an identity-specific semantic code in Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, the impact of those two semantic similarities between the bearers of the confused names was taken into account, whereas the phonological similarity was not taken into account. First, results showed a main effect of the phonological and semantic similarity on name confusion (more confusions when the names were phonologically related or when the bearers of the names were semantically related). Second, we found that (1) the combination of the phonological and the semantic similarity and (2) the combination of the two semantic similarities led to an increase of name confusions. Third, in the three experiments, we found that the semantic and phonological similarities had a similar impact on repeated and single confusions. Finally, results showed that participants always made more single than repeated confusions, except in the case when the bearers of the confused names shared two semantic features.

Effects of Suggestibility on Learning by Retarded and Nonretarded Students

1984 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 663-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette U. Shuck ◽  
Barbara L. Ludlow
Keyword(s):  
Paired Associate ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Paired Associate Learning ◽  
Associate Learning ◽  
Treatment Conditions ◽  
Positive Performance ◽  
Performance Suggestions ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Plot Design

Mildly mentally retarded and nonretarded students (age range: 10 to 16 yr.), classified by groups according to low suggestibility, were exposed to positive, negative, or neutral suggestions concerning their performance on a paired-associate learning task. A split-plot design assessed interactions between variables of subjects' category and suggestibility and treatment conditions, such as suggestion provided and trials. Analyses of variance showed retarded students improved more. The data also suggested somewhat improved performance by subjects given a positive suggestion. The suggestibility of many retarded students may be used by trainers to facilitate faster learning of simple tasks, especially if positive performance suggestions are employed.

Effects of Language Facility in Learning

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond S. Dean ◽  
Raymond W. Kulhavy
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
School Success ◽  
Paired Associate ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Paired Associate Learning ◽  
Associate Learning ◽  
Partial Explanation ◽  
Future School

Sixty-four primary school boys were classified as being high or low in vocabulary and randomly assigned to a language mediation instruction or non-instructed condition. Children were individually administered CVC’s, paralogs, and simple words in a three trial paired-associate learning task. Locus of facilitation was found primarily in upper vocabulary groups and for familiar words rather than paralogs and CVC’s. Low vocabulary subjects produced fewer mediators and were less likely to get an item correct when a mediator was given. The performance of students with well-developed vocabularies was linked to their ability to manipulate language and language-based tasks. These data offer a partial explanation why vocabulary tests predict future school success, independent of overall intelligence.

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