A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing

@article{Collins1975AST,
  title={A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing},
  author={Allan M. Collins and Elizabeth F. Loftus},
  journal={Psychological Review},
  year={1975},
  volume={82},
  pages={407-428}
}
This paper presents a spreading-acti vation theory of human semantic processing, which can be applied to a wide range of recent experimental results. [] Key Method The theory viewed memory search as activation spreading from two or more concept nodes in a semantic network until an intersection was found. The effects of preparation (or priming) in semantic memory were also explained in terms of spreading activation from the node of the primed concept. Rather than a theory to explain data, it was a theory…
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