What information underlies correct rejections in short-term recognition memory?

Full Abstract

We propose that correct rejections are based on information that contradicts the study set, rather than on insufficient familiarity. Using two-dimensional stimuli, we varied the featural overlap between lures and the study set so that one feature of the lure had occurred during study and the second feature of the lure had not occurred. Familiarity varied with the number of times the studied feature had occurred, whereas detectability of the extralist feature varied with the number of studied alternatives on the same dimension. Lures increased in difficulty with familiarity only when familiarity of the studied feature was confounded with the number of alternatives to the extralist feature. Hence, the difficulty in rejecting the lure was controlled by the number of alternatives to the extralist feature, not by the familiarity of the lure. Current theory requires additional representation assumptions and a new comparison process to accommodate these data.

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Author information

Author/s: Johns, E E (EE); Mewhort, D J K (DJ);

Affiliation: Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Memory & cognition (Mem Cognit), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Jan; vol 30 (issue 1) : pp 46-59

Dates: Created 2002/04/17; Completed 2002/10/29; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 11958354, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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