Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · 1994 · 690 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesPsychologyCognitive NeuroscienceCognitive PsychologyMemoryCognitive ModelingInformation ProcessingMemory EncodingMemory RetrievalRecognition MemoryVisual MemoryDiscrimination SensitivityItem RecognitionReceiver Operating Characteristic AnalysisRecognition Memory TestsVisual Recognition Memory
Recognition judgments are driven by familiarity as described by signal detection theory, but a separate recollection process also contributes to performance. The authors employed a process dissociation procedure in three ROC experiments to disentangle the contributions of familiarity and recollection to recognition memory. Across three ROC experiments, shortening study lists raised d′ intercepts, lowered ROC slopes, and boosted recollection without affecting familiarity, while lengthening study time increased intercepts and both recollection and familiarity, with familiarity alone yielding symmetrical ROCs (slope = 1) and recollection producing a skew that reduced the slope.
Evidence is presented that recognition judgments are based on an assessment of familiarity, as is described by signal detection theory, but that a separate recollection process also contributes to performance. In 3 receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) experiments, the process dissociation procedure was used to examine the contribution of these processes to recognition memory. In Experiments 1 and 2, reducing the length of the study list increased the intercept (d') but decreased the slope of the ROC and increased the probability of recollection but left familiarity relatively unaffected. In Experiment 3, increasing study time increased the intercept but left the slope of the ROC unaffected and increased both recollection and familiarity. In all 3 experiments, judgments based on familiarity produced a symmetrical ROC (slope = 1), but recollection introduced a skew such that the slope of the ROC decreased.