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Related Experiment Video

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Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency

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Published on: October 28, 2020

The properties of personal semantics.

Annick F N Tanguay¹, Kim Thériault², Sharice Clough^3,4

¹School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. annick.fn.tanguay@gmail.com.

Memory & Cognition

|July 4, 2026

Summary

Personal semantic memory (PS) involves richer, more diverse features than general semantic memory (GS). Both memory types share significant feature overlap, highlighting cognitive similarities and differences.

Keywords:

Episodic memory Features Personal semantics Semantic distance Semantic memory

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Last Updated: Jul 6, 2026

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychology
Linguistics

Background:

Recent research reveals both similarities and differences between general semantic memory (GS) and personal semantic memory (PS).
Understanding the representational content and cognitive processes of PS is crucial for its relation to GS.

Purpose of the Study:

To adapt the Property Generation task for comparing PS and GS.
To investigate the cognitive differences and similarities between PS and GS.

Main Methods:

Two studies were conducted with adult participants.
Study 1 used a between-subjects design (N=240) comparing traditional GS and PS perspectives.
Study 2 employed a within-subject design (N=124) for replication.

Main Results:

The PS condition yielded more features compared to the GS condition.
PS features were more semantically distant and included more adjectives and fewer nouns.
A substantial overlap (~46%) in feature frequency was observed between the two conditions.

Conclusions:

Personal semantic memory is characterized by greater semantic richness and feature diversity.
Cognitive processes in PS and GS show both distinct characteristics and significant correspondences.
Findings contribute to differentiating and relating personal and general semantic memory systems.