When we go into the study of memory we realize that it is not a single concept. In this article we are going to deal with semantic memory. Some will be hearing it for the first time, others will be familiar with the concept, and others will get to know it. Memory is generally thought of as a single process. Phrases like, "Wow, what a bad memory I have," reflect this belief. But ... what kind of memory fails us when we say these affirmations?
When they tell us a phone number and we forget it, we tend to say that we have a bad memory. But is this so? We sure remember the country we live in. We also remember our name and that of our acquaintances. What do we also remember our address?
There are innumerable aspects of life that we do not forget. This leads us to think that our memory works perfectly. Also, if you remember all this information about your life, you can be sure that you have a good semantic memory. Do you want to know more about this type of memory? Keep reading!
Contents
Semantic memory is like a large trunk that contains all our information on concepts related to the world and ourselves. Inside this trunk we find everything we know: our name, that of our parents, the continents and all that information that we have been learning throughout our lives. This memory records concepts, meanings and events that represent the world.
Semantic memory is a type of declarative memory and this is a type of long-term memory. The declarative memory collects facts and knowledge and allows the recovery of this information in a conscious way.
Within declarative memory we also find episodic memory. While episodic memory refers to our experiences, semantic memory is related to concepts. For example, remembering a trip is related to episodic memory. But the fact of remembering which country we have traveled to, where the country is, corresponds to semantic memory.
These two memories, despite being different, are quite related. What's more, many studies are still working on defining them as best as possible. The relationship between them is that the information stored in semantic memory derives from episodic memory. When we learn concepts as a result of our interaction and action on them, knowledge takes place in a concrete context with emotional charge.
There is a gradual transition from episodic to semantic memory through a process by which episodic memory decreases its sensitivity and association with particular and emotional circumstances.
Have you ever wondered how our relationship with an object, concept or symbol is formed? This aspect is more complex and profound than it may seem. What would we answer if we were asked "what is a tablet?" What would our best friend reply? Or what would someone born in 1800 answer the same question? When we are asked to describe an object we attribute certain characteristics to it. For example, if two people are asked what characterizes a glass, they could answer:
Each subject gives us different explanations and all of them are valid. As stated by Murphy (2003), "the meaning of a concept does not seem to emerge directly only from its intrinsic properties". That is, it is not a single and static reality, but the formation of the concept is related to each subject. The meaning of an object arises from the facts related to the object, from the intellectual and / or emotional relationships that we establish from our experience with it..
The information that gives meaning to an object, therefore, is a social, historical, linguistic and experiential construction. When we understand the meaning of a symbol it is not an intrinsic property, but arises as an act of interpretation. In this way, the meaning is not static or permanent, since both individuals and communities modify it according to circumstances, needs, interests, ideologies or conveniences..
Since each person interprets a concept, object or symbol in a certain way and we still know what we are talking about, it can be said that a communication relationship between two people implies an act of interpretation and a negotiation of meanings..
Many of you may have asked yourself, what does someone from 1800 and the tablet have to do with all this? The answer is easy, as we have just seen, the formation of meaning also depends on the historical moment in which we find ourselves. So if we asked someone from that time that question, they might say, "I don't know":
It is usually studied through categorization tasks, for example, does cat belong to the animal category? Also through phrase verification, is a table a piece of furniture, true? Lexical decision, is chair a word? Or naming of pictures, for example, saying the name of the object that a picture represents. When naming the object it is required to retrieve the information from the declarative memory without it being associated with the moment it was learned.
This type of memory depends initially on the medial temporal lobe and more specifically on the left prefontal cortex (Head and Nyberg, 2000).
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