| A source of significant debate in psychology is the issue of how information is stored in semantic memory. The two primary frameworks are the Unitary Content Hypothesis, which holds that information is stored based on categories, and the Multiple Semantics Hypothesis, which holds that information is stored based on sensory modality. In a series of three experiments, I attempt to shed some light on which of these two frameworks is the most probable explanation of a number of phenomena associated with semantic memory. The results indicate that the Multiple Semantics Hypothesis is the most likely explanation. A further analysis of existing computational models shows that the "graded specificity" model (Plaut, 2002) provides the most comprehensive explanation of the available data. |
