Date of Award
8-28-2018
Publication Type
Doctoral Thesis
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Psychology
Keywords
Episodic memory, Explicit memory, Implicit memory, Recognition memory, Semantic memory, Semantic neighbourhood density
Supervisor
Buchanan, Lori
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Semantic and episodic memory have been traditionally conceptualized as distinct memory systems (Tulving, 1972). Recent research emphasizes that these systems are interdependent, and many studies have found that semantic memory influences episodic memory (Graham et al., 2000; Greenberg & Verfaellie, 2010; Takashima et al., 2014). This dissertation expands this area of research by examining a question that had not been explored to date. The main objective was to examine the influence of semantic neighbourhood density on explicit and implicit episodic memory. Semantic neighbourhood density is a measure that captures the degree of semantic relationship between words in semantic memory (Buchanan et al., 2001). This variable has been shown to influence language processing, but it has not been studied in the context of episodic memory (Buchanan et al., 2001; Danguecan & Buchanan, 2016). Four experiments were designed to explore the effect of semantic neighbourhood density on a variety of episodic memory tasks. The results indicate that high semantic neighbourhood density facilitates both explicit and implicit episodic memory. These findings contribute to our current understanding about the influence of semantic factors on episodic memory for words.
Recommended Citation
Wong Gonzalez, Daniela, "The relationship between semantic and episodic memory: Exploring the effect of semantic neighbourhood density on episodic memory" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 7585.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/7585