Enhanced feeling of recognition: Effects of identifying and manipulating test items on recognition memory.

Abstract

This study showed that regardless of its actual status, a test item was more likely to be judged as old if, before making an old-new judgment, subjects attempted to (a) identify a test word or a test picture's name (Experiments 1 and 2), or (b) to work on a normally presented test word, such as reversing the letter order of the word or constructing a word that rhymed with the test word (Experiment 3). Experiment 1 replicated the enhanced feeling of recognition effect reported by M. Watkins and Z. F. Peynircioglu (1990). Experiment 2 extended the effect to a cross-modality priming situation. Experiment 3 further extended the finding by showing that the effect could occur for reasons having nothing to do with the perception of test items. Finally, Experiment 4 showed that increased exposure to test items alone cannot produce the enhanced feeling of recognition