Semantic Memory and Long Term Memory

Semantic memory -
“Human brains are storehouses of vast amounts of different kinds of information – about people in the neighborhood and in the movies, about places and how to look, reach or navigate towards them, and about things and what they look, sound, feel, smell and taste like.” (Federmeir, 2000, p. 463)



Long term memory is divided into two kinds of memory. One kind is semantic memory, which is our knowledge of the world. “Semantic memory includes encyclopedic knowledge. It also includes lexical or language knowledge. In addition, semantic memory includes conceptual knowledge.” (Matlin, 2005, p. 248) To put it in simpler terms this memory helps you to recall names, dates, important facts, that a rectangle has two sets of parallel lines, and which words are associated with each other.
The other kind of memory is episodic. This is the memory of our own events or experiences. Such events that might be stored in this memory are your very first date, the first time you bought a new car, or recalling the day you were married.

As educators we are always looking to increase the semantic memory of our students. With my kindergarten students, you know that their semantic memory is very limited. They have very little knowledge about the world. Each grade that they pass through we continue to build on this knowledge.

In semantic memory we are organizing our knowledge into categories to make it easier to recall. Sometimes when we loose those connections the memory is harder to recall. You might still have that memory somewhere but you have nothing to connect it to, so you cannot recall it. There are different models to help explain how semantic memory works.

One model is the feature comparison model. According to this model, ideas are stored according to their characteristics. The prototype approach says that you place and object in a category by comparing that item with a prototype. An example of this would be if I saw a corvette, I would place this in the category of cars because it matches what a prototypical car would be. The final approach is the exemplar approach. This approach is based on examples of objects that you have already seen. First you must learn the examples and then you may place new items into that category depending on how closely they fit your examples.

Obviously there is not a clear cut best choice or we would not be discussing the other two. Each approach has its supporters and those who oppose it. In kindergarten their knowledge of the world is vastly limited compared to adults. We are still building the foundations of knowledge that they will need to help categorize items. Discussing all of these approaches does remind me of a game that was taught to me this year. We use this game, Mr. Niehaus’ Farmhouse, as a fun activity. I would give them clues as to what animal I was thinking of, and they would have to make logical guesses as to what animal I had in mind. This forced them to connect their prior knowledge of animals to the clues that I gave them. It became obvious who had previous knowledge about certain animals. One time I said “this animal stands on two legs,” and while some immediately had ideas, others did not have this past knowledge and had to wait for other clues.



An interesting explanation and picture of where semantic memory might be taking place in your brain:



Schematic representation of (a) ventral and (b) lateral surfaces of the brain. Shown are the approximate locations of regions where information about object form, motion and object-use-associated motor patters may be stored. Information from an increasing number of sources may be integrated in the temporal lobes, with specificity increasing along the posterior to anterior axis. Specific regions of the LIPC and the polar region of the temporal lobes may be involved differentially in retrieving, monitoring, selecting and maintaining semantic information. (Martin and Chao, 2001, p. 197)

Jean Piaget was very influential in the area of developmental psychology. His main focus was on the biological aspects of how humans come to know things or form concepts. Huitt and Hummel (2003) explained that “Piaget hypothesized that infants are born with schemes operating at birth that he called “reflexes.”” Infants use these “reflexes” to adapt to the environment and these reflexes are replaced with schemes on how things are suppose to be.

Piaget had two processes to explain how humans attempt to adapt. These two processes are assimilation and accommodations. “Assimilation is the process of using or transforming the environment so that it can be placed in preexisting cognitive structures. Accommodation is the process of changing cognitive structures in order to accept something from the environment.” (Huitt and Hummel, 2003). Humans use assimilation and accommodation all the time. An example of assimilation in children would be knowing the rules on our playground and using them on other playgrounds. During the year we take field trips and occasionally stop at a park for a break. The children are using their knowledge of the rules they are suppose to follow at the school playground and having to apply that to the new playground. An example of accommodation that Huitt and Hummel (2003) used would be when a child needs to modify a sucking schema developed by sucking on a pacifier to one that would be successful for sucking on a bottle.

Early childhood programs have used Piaget’s theory to provide better instructional techniques. Using a variety of teaching methods can help the children to attain the knowledge they need. In my classroom I attempt to use many different methods. We work with different manipulatives, perform experiments, work in groups and even take the occasional field trip. By giving them different ways to attain the knowledge you give them more opportunities to succeed.