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“Truth be told” – Semantic memory as the scaffold for veridical communication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2018

Brett K. Hayes
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. b.hayes@unsw.edu.auhttp://www.psy.unsw.edu.au/contacts-people/academic-staff/professor-brett-hayes
Siddharth Ramanan
Affiliation:
Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia. siddharth.ramanan@sydney.edu.aumuireann.irish@sydney.edu.auhttp://www.ccd.edu.au/people/profile.php?memberID=1492https://www.ccd.edu.au/people/profile.php?memberID=683 School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia. Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
Muireann Irish
Affiliation:
Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia. siddharth.ramanan@sydney.edu.aumuireann.irish@sydney.edu.auhttp://www.ccd.edu.au/people/profile.php?memberID=1492https://www.ccd.edu.au/people/profile.php?memberID=683 School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia. Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.

Abstract

Theoretical accounts placing episodic memory as central to constructive and communicative functions neglect the role of semantic memory. We argue that the decontextualized nature of semantic schemas largely supersedes the computational bottleneck and error-prone nature of episodic memory. Rather, neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence of episodic-semantic interactions suggest that an integrative framework more accurately captures the mechanisms underpinning social communication.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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