Editing Semantic memory (section)

=== Jacoby and Dallas (1981) ===

This study<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jacoby | first1 = L. L. | last2 = Dallas | first2 = M. | year = 1981 | title = On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning | doi= 10.1037/0096-3445.110.3.306 | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: General | volume = 110 | issue = 3| pages = 306–340 | pmid = 6457080 }}</ref> was not created to solely provide evidence for the distinction of semantic and episodic memory stores. However, they did use the experimental dissociation method which provides evidence for Tulving's hypothesis.

In the first part, subjects were presented with a total of 60 words (one at a time) and were asked different questions.

* Some questions asked were to cause the subject to pay attention to the visual appearance: Is the word typed in bold letters?
* Some questions caused the participants to pay attention to the sound of the word: Does the word rhyme with ball?
* Some questions caused the subjects to pay attention to the meaning of the word: Does the word refer to a form of communication?
* Half of the questions were "no" answers and the other half "yes"

In the second phase of the experiment, 60 "old words" seen in stage one and 20 "new words" not shown in stage one were presented to the subjects one at a time.

The subjects were given one of two tasks:

* Perceptual identification task: The words were flashed on a video-screen for 35 milliseconds and the subjects were required to say what the word was.
* Episodic recognition task: Subjects were presented with each word and had to decide whether they had seen the word in the previous stage of the experiment.
Results showed that the percentage of correct answers in the semantic task (perceptual identification) did not change with the encoding conditions of appearance, sound, or meaning. The percentage of correct answers for the episodic task increased from the appearance condition (.50), to the sound condition (.63), to the meaning condition (.86). The effect was also greater for the "yes" encoding words than the "no" encoding words, which suggested a strong distinction of performance of episodic and semantic tasks, supporting Tulving's hypothesis.