8 - Computational Models of Semantic Memory

Summary

Understanding the basis of the human abilities, to recognize, comprehend, and make inferences about objects and events in the world and to comprehend and produce statements about them, is the goal of research in semantic memory. Semantic memory is memory for meanings. In some disciplines (e.g., linguistics), the word semantics refers exclusively to the meanings of words and sentences. Collins and Quillian's model effectively uses the syllogism as a basis for organizing propositional knowledge in memory. The chapter offers a promising theoretical framework for semantic cognition. The chapter provides a simple framework for thinking about how coherent covariation between linguistic structure and other aspects of experience can promote the representation of meaning for full sentences and events. The chapter explores patterns of semantic impairment to reveal the neuroanatomical organization of the semantic system.