Brain Oscillations, Semantic Processing, and Episodic Memory

Abstract

The chapter links empirical neurophysiological findings and concepts from two different disciplines: semantic processing, a sub-discipline of linguistics that refers to any sort of cognitive processing which focuses on the meaning of a sensory stimulus (word, picture, or sound), and episodic memory, a sub-discipline of psychology that refers to memories with a unique temporal and spatial context. The combination of these two disciplines have led to several key findings and strongly influenced memory models and frameworks. The authors focus on a very special marker of neural activity, namely brain oscillations, which provide the glue by which they link the two different disciplines. The studies utilize brain oscillations to address the question of how local and global neural assemblies interact by means of synchronization and desynchronization during semantic processing and memory encoding. As yet, there is no conclusive answer on how the brain carries out these tasks, but brain oscillations might contribute an important piece to the solution of this puzzle, by guiding and linking these processes.