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The Role of Semantic Clustering in Optimal Memory Foraging
Author(s) -
Montez Priscilla,
Thompson Graham,
Kello Christopher T.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.498
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1551-6709
pISSN - 0364-0213
DOI - 10.1111/cogs.12249
Subject(s) - foraging , computer science , recall , cluster analysis , value (mathematics) , semantic memory , cognitive psychology , artificial intelligence , theoretical computer science , natural language processing , psychology , machine learning , cognition , ecology , biology , neuroscience
Recent studies of semantic memory have investigated two theories of optimal search adopted from the animal foraging literature: Lévy flights and marginal value theorem. Each theory makes different simplifying assumptions and addresses different findings in search behaviors. In this study, an experiment is conducted to test whether clustering in semantic memory may play a role in evidence for both theories. Labeled magnets and a whiteboard were used to elicit spatial representations of semantic knowledge about animals. Category recall sequences from a separate experiment were used to trace search paths over the spatial representations of animal knowledge. Results showed that spatial distances between animal names arranged on the whiteboard were correlated with inter‐response intervals ( IRI s) during category recall, and distributions of both dependent measures approximated inverse power laws associated with Lévy flights. In addition, IRI s were relatively shorter when paths first entered animal clusters, and longer when they exited clusters, which is consistent with marginal value theorem. In conclusion, area‐restricted searches over clustered semantic spaces may account for two different patterns of results interpreted as supporting two different theories of optimal memory foraging.