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The Neuropsychology of Semantic memory| old_uid | 4216 |
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| title | The Neuropsychology of Semantic memory |
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| start_date | 2008/03/05 |
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| schedule | 16h |
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| online | no |
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| summary | The concept of semantic memory can be used to encompass that body of knowledge held in common by members of a cultural or linguistic group. Semantic memory processes, stores and retrieves information about the meaning of words concepts and facts. The impairment of semantic memory can be the first and only sign of cognitive impairment in patients who have progressive degenerative conditions. These semantic memory deficits can, at least in the early stages of illness, be remarkably circumscribed.
Current debate is centred on two main issues: category specificity and modality specificity. Many accounts of category specificity have focused on the double dissociation between knowledge of living things and man made objects. Evidence that category specific phenomenon may be both more fine grain and broader in range will be reviewed. The significance of semantic memory impairments confined to either the verbal or visual domain will be discussed. It will be suggested that we have evolved separable data bases for our visual and verbal knowledge of the world.
I have been associated with the Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery since 1954 when I obtained a research assistant position. In 1960 I took over responsibility for the clinical neuropsychological service to the hospital. I was appointed to a personal chair in Clinical Neuropsychology in 1982. When I retired from the Hospital service in 1996, I joined the Dementia Research Centre in an honorary capacity. During the last 50 years I have been fortunate in having excellent opportunities to further my research interests in varied cognitive domains including memory, language and perception. |
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| responsibles | Bishop |
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