Page 1 - LN 3_Human Memory
P. 1
Class XI
Chapter 7
Human memory
Module 3
(Topic: Knowledge representation and organization in Memory, Memory as a
Constructive Process)
SHORT NOTE
KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION AND ORGANIZATION IN MEMORY
➢ Concepts are mental categories for objects and events, which are similar to each
other in one or in more than one way.
➢ Concepts once formed get organised in categories — a category itself is a concept
but it also functions to organise similarities among other concepts based on
common features.
➢ For example, the word mango is a category because different varieties of mangoes
can be subsumed within it and it is also a concept within the category of fruit.
➢ Concepts may also get organised in schemas.
➢ They are mental frameworks which represent our knowledge and assumptions
about the world.
➢ In the year 1969, Allan Collins and Ross Quillian published a landmark
research paper in which they suggested that knowledge in long-term memory
is organised hierarchically and assumes a network structure.
➢ Elements of this structure are called nodes.
➢ Nodes are concepts while connections between nodes are labelled
relationships.
➢ According to this view, we can store all knowledge at a certain level that
‘applies to all the members of a category without having to repeat that
information at the lower levels in the hierarchy’.
➢ This ensures a high degree of cognitive economy, which means maximum and
efficient use of the capacity of long-term memory with minimum redundancy.
