| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the interaction between
autobiographical memory and lexical representation in semantic memory. To evaluate
whether improved lexical access could be due to a reduction of cognitive load, the effects of
discourse type on lexical specificity were also examined.
The data were obtained from conversations with a subject diagnosed with probable
Alzheimer's disease. Measures of informativeness using the Correct Information Unit
analysis (Nicholas & Brookshire, 1993) and lexical specificity using a noun specificity
analysis, noun classification analysis and unique adjective analysis were used to analyze
texts representing recent and remote, personal and public memories, and across discourse
types (a procedure, a fairytale, events, descriptions).
The results showed that the personal memory texts had the greatest informativeness
and lexical specificity across memory types. The remote-recent memory distinction varied,
but the remote memories generally led to better lexical specificity than the recent ones.
Finally, discourse type did not have an effect on lexical specificity, but did not have an
effect on informativeness. The conclusion was that there are connections between semantic
memory and autobiographical that lead to improved access and to use of lexically specific
words.
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