Going beyond a single list : Modeling the effects of prior experience on episodic free recall

• Published in: Psychonomic bulletin & review Vol. 12; no. 5; pp. 787 - 805
• Main Authors: SIROTIN, Yevgeniy B, KIMBALL, Daniel R, KAHANA, Michael J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Austin, TX Psychonomic Society 01-10-2005; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Association; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Learning. Memory; Memory; Mental Recall; Models, Psychological; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Recall; Semantics; Human; Semantic memory; Cognition; Simulation model; Free recall; Episodic memory
• ISSN: 1069-9384; 1531-5320
• DOI: 10.3758/BF03196773

We present an extension of the search of associative memory (SAM) model that simulates the effects of both prior semantic knowledge and prior episodic experience on episodic free recall. The model incorporates a memory store for preexisting semantic associations, a contextual drift mechanism, a memory search mechanism that uses both episodic and semantic associations, and a large lexicon including both words from prior lists and unpresented words. These features enabled the model to successfully account for the effects of prior semantic knowledge and prior episodic learning on the pattern of correct recalls and intrusions observed in free recall experiments.