Knowing What We See

Have you ever wondered how you know what you see? For example, when you see a round, red object at the grocery store, how do you know that it is called an apple and that it can be eaten? This type of knowledge is called semantic memory. Semantic memories are learned over a lifetime and can be accessed without remembering a specific experience. In other words, you do not need to remember details from the last time you ate an apple to identify one at the grocery store. Although knowledge about apples seems to come to mind rather easily when we see them, linking semantic memory to vision actually requires a lot of brain power! The purpose of this paper is to explain how the brain accomplishes this goal and to describe the functions of key brain regions. We also discuss the functional importance of linking semantic memory and vision.