Activation Spread
The model of Collins and Loftus for spreading activation (Spreading Activation Network) takes place in the psychology of language and the priming its application and is used to illustrate the processes that occur in the selection of a word in the brain. The model is based on a mental lexicon , which is built up as a neural network . Accordingly, the activation of a word spreads through the contexts stored in each case in other words.
The individual nodes (red, heat, fire, etc.) of the network form the terms . The (associative) relationships between the individual terms are represented by edges (lines). After activating a term, the selection of further terms (nodes) spreads over the respectively available associations (edges).
The propagation takes place simultaneously in all available directions. With semantic priming, it can also be observed that terms that have already been activated are found more quickly after the second access. So it's a kind of mental cache .
literature
- JR Anderson: A spreading activation theory of memory . In: Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior , 22, 1983, pp. 261-295.
- AM Collins, EF Loftus: A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing . In: Psychological Review , 82, 1975, pp. 407-428