Episodic and Semantic Memory
Saturday, October 01st, 2011 [17:20 - 19:20]
PS_2.062 - Semantic representations of retrieved event information
Karlsson, K. 1 , Sikström, S. 2 & Willander, J. 1, 3
1 Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
2 Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
3 Department of Psychology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
The semantic content is central in autobiographical memories. In the present study we investigated the retrieval of event information by addressing the semantic representation of events. For the purpose of the present study we adopted Latent Semantic Analysis. In the experiment participants were presented with unimodal (i.e., one modality) or multimodal (i.e., three modalities in conjunction) retrieval cues and asked to retrieve autobiographical events. The events were verbally described and transcribed to text. The Latent Semantic Analysis indicated that the semantic representation (i.e., the meaning) of visually evoked memories were most similar to the multimodally evoked memories, whereas auditorily and olfactorily evoked memories were less similar to the multimodally evoked events. We conclude that retrieval using multimodal retrieval cues is dominated by visual information.
PS_2.063 - Words prime actions: How semantics affect facilitation and interference of motor programming
Brunetti, R. 1, 3 , Delogu, F. 2 , Del Gatto, C. 3 , Del Grosso, E. 3 & D'Ausilio, A. 4
1 Department of didactics and research, UER, Italy
2 Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
3 Università Europea di Roma, Italy
Recent studies have shown strong links between perception, motor programming, and the processing of meaning. In particular, studies within the embodied cognition approach demonstrated that action and sentence comprehension seem to be associated. However, it is still matter of debate how and when this interaction happens. In this study we tested how actions can be primed by words with different levels of abstractness. Ninety participants performed the simple action of moving a joystick upward or downward
accordingly to the presentation of an imperative stimulus. Actions could be primed by task-irrelevant words belonging to four different categories with different levels of abstractness: the first category of words has a direct motor meaning (e.g. "to push up"/"to push down") while the remaining three show progressively higher levels of abstractness in their relationship with the “upward” and the “downward” directions (e.g. from the fourth category: “joy”/“sadness”). The delay between prime and imperative stimulus was systematically varied. Action-word semantic matching effects have been found in reaction times to the imperative stimulus. Such effects are also modulated by timing presentation and level of abstractness of the prime. Results are discussed according to recent theories of action representation.
PS_2.064 - Memory for performed and to-be-performed action phrases: comparative analyses of memory accuracy and accessibility
Kubik, V. 1, 3 , Jönsson, F. 1, 3 , Knopf, M. 2 & Nilsson, L. 1, 3
1 Stockholm University
2 Goethe University
3 Stockholm Brain Institute
Motoric encoding leads to better memory performance than verbal encoding of action phrases (the enactment effect, c.f. Nilsson, 2000). Also action phrases that are encoded for later enactive (in comparison to verbal) recall show reliably better memory accessibility (e.g., shorter recognition/lexical decision response latencies). This is referred to as the intention-superiority effect (Goschke & Kuhl, 1993; Marsh, Hicks & Bink, 1998) or the intended enactment effect (Freeman & Ellis, 2003). The current study explores comparatively both effects as a function of list length (18, 30, 60, or 90 items), in what order the retrieval tasks are presented (recall, recognition vs. recognition, recall), subjective item ratings (familiarity and motor activity) as well as individual differences (in action orientation, Kuhl & Beckmann, 1994). Similar effects of intended and realized enactment were found for memory accuracy and accessibility. These effects were moderated by the nature of the action phrase and action orientation: State-oriented individuals and highly motoric action phrases showed a pronounced (intended) enactment effect. The results are discussed in terms of the action- and intention-superiority account and the results support a common explanation for both effects.