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The "living things" impairment and the nature of semantic memory organisation: An experimental study using PI-release
1Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
Abstract:
The present paper evaluated categorical and featural proposals of memory organisation, for explaining the living/nonliving things dissociation observed in semantic memory. The experimental study used the Release from Proactive Interference (PI-release) paradigm. Normal subjects were tested with this task using word vs. picture stimuli in a standard taxonomical PI-release condition (i.e., nonliving to living things) and in a cue condition with attributes that run opposite to the taxonomical shift. Experiments 1 and 2 cued functional attributes (means of transportation; dangerousness), and experiments 3 and 4 cued perceptual attributes (size; number of legs). The overall pattern of PI-release emphasizes the role of functional attributes and the role of structural processing to semantic processing. Implications for the different proposals presented, including possible alternative accounts of the results, are also discussed.
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