People-focused knowledge management

particular knowledge until it is needed for use in a specific situation
and are reminded — until they are “primed to use it.” Priming has
been established to be an important mechanism for recalling what
we know.
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Memory and Knowledge Categorizations
313
A conceptual model of the human memory system is shown in
Figure 4-2 (repeated below). In this highly idealized model, the com-
munication paths between different memory areas are indicated with
arrows. Communications with the sensory and motor systems are
also indicated. The different memories are depicted as separate areas
of the brain. This is not generally the case in reality, but it helps
explain the functions. Our brain is organized to contain a large
number of specialized areas such as vision, hearing, smell, language,
Visuo-Spatial
Central
Executive
Sensory
System
Nonconscious
Working Memories
Long-Term
Memory
Procedural
Memory
Episodic
Memory
Semantic
Memory
Lexical
Encyclopedic
Priming
Memory
Buffer
Memory
Motor
System
Conceptual
Memory
Conscious
Working Memory
Visuo-Spatial
Central
Executive
Articulatory
Figure 4-2
(Repeated). Conceptual model of the human memory system. (Copyright © 1993
by Karl M. Wiig. Reproduced with permission.)
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People-Focused Knowledge Management
number manipulations, and so on.
1
In addition, our right and left
hemispheres serve distinctly different functions. Whereas the left
hemisphere is dominant for processing language and conceptual and
classificatory functions, the right hemisphere is dominant for pro-
cessing spatial functions and detailed analysis and discrimination.
Musical ability also is located in the right hemisphere. Hemispheric
dominance is not always clear-cut, however. For example, although
the numerical abilities, including understanding numerical relations
and concepts, are located in the right hemisphere, the ability to 
read and produce signs of mathematics reside in the left hemisphere
(Gardner 1983).