Abstract
There is growing recognition that some important forms of long-term memory are difficult to classify into one of the well-studied memory subtypes. One example is personal semantics. Like the episodes that are stored as part of one's autobiography, personal semantics is linked to an individual, yet, like general semantic memory, it is detached from a specific encoding context. Access to general semantics elicits an electrophysiological response known as the N400, which has been characterized across three decades of research; surprisingly, this response has not been fully examined in the context of personal semantics. In this study, we assessed responses to congruent and incongruent statements about people's own, personal preferences. We found that access to personal preferences elicited N400 responses, with congruency effects that were similar in latency and distribution to those for general semantic statements elicited from the same participants. These results suggest that the processing of personal and general semantics share important functional and neurobiological features.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 36-43 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Neuropsychologia |
| Volume | 84 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1 2016 |
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Keywords
- N400
- Personal semantics
- Self-knowledge
- Semantic memory
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Cite this
The N400 reveals how personal semantics is processed : Insights into the nature and organization of self-knowledge. / Coronel, Jason C.; Federmeier, Kara D.
In: Neuropsychologia, Vol. 84, 01.04.2016, p. 36-43.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The N400 reveals how personal semantics is processed
T2 - Insights into the nature and organization of self-knowledge
AU - Coronel, Jason C.
AU - Federmeier, Kara D.
PY - 2016/4/1
Y1 - 2016/4/1
N2 - There is growing recognition that some important forms of long-term memory are difficult to classify into one of the well-studied memory subtypes. One example is personal semantics. Like the episodes that are stored as part of one's autobiography, personal semantics is linked to an individual, yet, like general semantic memory, it is detached from a specific encoding context. Access to general semantics elicits an electrophysiological response known as the N400, which has been characterized across three decades of research; surprisingly, this response has not been fully examined in the context of personal semantics. In this study, we assessed responses to congruent and incongruent statements about people's own, personal preferences. We found that access to personal preferences elicited N400 responses, with congruency effects that were similar in latency and distribution to those for general semantic statements elicited from the same participants. These results suggest that the processing of personal and general semantics share important functional and neurobiological features.
AB - There is growing recognition that some important forms of long-term memory are difficult to classify into one of the well-studied memory subtypes. One example is personal semantics. Like the episodes that are stored as part of one's autobiography, personal semantics is linked to an individual, yet, like general semantic memory, it is detached from a specific encoding context. Access to general semantics elicits an electrophysiological response known as the N400, which has been characterized across three decades of research; surprisingly, this response has not been fully examined in the context of personal semantics. In this study, we assessed responses to congruent and incongruent statements about people's own, personal preferences. We found that access to personal preferences elicited N400 responses, with congruency effects that were similar in latency and distribution to those for general semantic statements elicited from the same participants. These results suggest that the processing of personal and general semantics share important functional and neurobiological features.
KW - N400
KW - Personal semantics
KW - Self-knowledge
KW - Semantic memory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84962621664&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84962621664&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.01.029
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.01.029
M3 - Article
C2 - 26825011
AN - SCOPUS:84962621664
VL - 84
SP - 36
EP - 43
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
SN - 0028-3932
ER -