Effect of semantic representations on episodic memory for unrelated sensory information
Abstract
The present research investigated the integration
of meaning and sensory information within episodic
memory. Early research (e.g. Morris, Bransford &
Franks, 1977; Stein, 1978, as well as Tulving &
Thomson, 1973; Fisher & Craik, 1977) investigated
episodic memory based on 'transfer appropriate
processing' or 'encoding specificity' explanations of
memory treated memory for meaning and sensory
information as separable processes. In contrast,
recent research (e.g. Hayman, Servais & Macdonald,
1995; Cofell, 1994) has found evidence of an
interactive representation of meaning and sensory
information within episodic memory using words as the
target stimuli. The present experiments extend these
findings to pictorial material using congruent and
incongruent manipulations of both the meaning and the
colour of pictures at study. Experiment 1 replicated
the findings of Hayman et al. (1995) in which episodic
memory is better when both meaning and sensory
information are processed simultaneously at study.
Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1, as
well as investigated the relationship between
'remember' and 'know' recognitions (Gardiner, 1988; Tulving, 1985) and episodic memory for sensory
features. The results supported an interdependent
representation of meaning and sensory information
within episodic memory when responses were conditional
upon a 'remember' recognition response, although the
independence of 'remember' and 'know' responses was not
clear.
Collections
- Retrospective theses [1604]