Spreading activation in nonverbal memory networks

Foster, Paul S.; Wakefield, Candias; Pryjmak, Scott; Roosa, Katelyn M.; Branch, Kaylei K.; Drago, Valeria; Ruff, Ronald; Harrison, David W.

Spreading activation in nonverbal memory networks

dc.contributor.author	Foster, Paul S.	en
dc.contributor.author	Wakefield, Candias	en
dc.contributor.author	Pryjmak, Scott	en
dc.contributor.author	Roosa, Katelyn M.	en
dc.contributor.author	Branch, Kaylei K.	en
dc.contributor.author	Drago, Valeria	en
dc.contributor.author	Ruff, Ronald	en
dc.contributor.author	Harrison, David W.	en
dc.contributor.department	Psychology	en
dc.date.accessioned	2017-01-04T21:35:21Z	en
dc.date.available	2017-01-04T21:35:21Z	en
dc.date.issued	2016-11-28	en
dc.description.abstract	Theories of spreading activation primarily involve semantic memory networks. However, the existence of separate verbal and visuospatial memory networks suggests that spreading activation may also occur in visuospatial memory networks. The purpose of the present investigation was to explore this possibility. Specifically, this study sought to create and describe the design frequency corpus and to determine whether this measure of visuospatial spreading activation was related to right hemisphere functioning and spreading activation in verbal memory networks. We used word frequencies taken from the Controlled Oral Word Association Test and design frequencies taken from the Ruff Figural Fluency Test as measures of verbal and visuospatial spreading activation, respectively. Average word and design frequencies were then correlated with measures of left and right cerebral functioning. The results indicated that a significant relationship exists between performance on a test of right posterior functioning (Block Design) and design frequency. A significant negative relationship also exists between spreading activation in semantic memory networks and design frequency. Based on our findings, the hypotheses were supported. Further research will need to be conducted to examine whether spreading activation exists in visuospatial memory networks as well as the parameters that might modulate this spreading activation, such as the influence of neurotransmitters.	en
dc.description.version	Published version	en
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1007/s40708-016-0058-y	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10919/73941	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International	en
dc.rights.holder	The Author(s)	en
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	en
dc.title	Spreading activation in nonverbal memory networks	en
dc.title.serial	Brain Informatics	en
dc.type	Article - Refereed	en
dc.type.dcmitype	Text	en
pubs.organisational-group	/Virginia Tech	en
pubs.organisational-group	/Virginia Tech/All T&R Faculty	en
pubs.organisational-group	/Virginia Tech/Faculty of Health Sciences	en
pubs.organisational-group	/Virginia Tech/Science	en
pubs.organisational-group	/Virginia Tech/Science/COS T&R Faculty	en
pubs.organisational-group	/Virginia Tech/Science/Psychology	en