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"Truth be told" - Semantic memory as the scaffold for veridical communication
Brett K Hayes1, Siddharth Ramanan2, Muireann Irish2
1School of Psychology,University of New South Wales,Sydney,NSW 2052,Australia.b.hayes@unsw.edu.auhttp://www.psy.unsw.edu.au/contacts-people/academic-staff/professor-brett-hayes.
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|January 23, 2018
Summary
Semantic memory, not episodic memory, is crucial for social communication. Its decontextualized nature offers a more efficient and reliable basis for communication than episodic memory.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Episodic memory is often considered central to constructive and communicative functions.
- Theoretical accounts may neglect the significant role of semantic memory in these processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To challenge the primacy of episodic memory in theoretical accounts of social communication.
- To highlight the importance of semantic memory's decontextualized nature.
- To propose an integrative framework for understanding social communication mechanisms.
Main Methods:
- Review of theoretical accounts on memory functions.
- Analysis of neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence.
- Examination of episodic-semantic memory interactions.
Main Results:
- Semantic schemas, due to their decontextualized nature, are more computationally efficient and less error-prone than episodic memory.
- Evidence supports significant interactions between episodic and semantic memory systems.
Conclusions:
- An integrative framework incorporating both episodic and semantic memory provides a more accurate model of social communication.
- Semantic memory plays a pivotal, often underestimated, role in social communication.