Semantic memory

Memory for facts and conceptual knowledge, distinguished from recollection of a particular learning episode.

Knowledge of objects, events and their properties or relationships, assessed through verbal and nonverbal tasks. Failure on one naming task alone is insufficient to establish loss of this knowledge.

A representation of meaning or conceptual information. Degradation of such representations must be distinguished from difficulty regulating access or producing a response.

A representation of conceptual information not restricted to a single sensory input or verbal output format. Converging cross-modal deficits can support this hypothesis without proving that all features are stored in one homogeneous site.

The regulation of access to and use of conceptual knowledge according to a current goal. Sensitivity to competing meanings, cues and task requirements can help distinguish impaired control from degradation of representations.^[ref]