ABSTRACT
The distinction between episodic and semantic memory is important. Some of the strongest evidence for the distinction comes from brain-damaged patients. Semantic distance between words or concepts has been measured in various ways. Semantic distance also predicts some aspects of language production. The notion that activation spreads from a presented word or concept to semantically related words or concepts has been extremely influential. Relevant schematic knowledge had a beneficial effect on recall because it helped comprehension of the passage rather than because the title acted as a useful retrieval cue. There is compelling evidence that learning and memory often involve top-down processes triggered by schematic knowledge.
