Search

Recognition tests are perhaps the most studied procedure in experimental research on memory processes. A typical procedure might begin with participants studying too items (e.g., words, pictures, or faces) and [...], Three experiments examined the issue of whether faces could be better recognized in a simultaneous test format (2-alternative forced choice [2AFC]) or a sequential test format (yes-no). All experiments showed that when target faces were present in the test, the simultaneous procedure led to superior performance (area under the ROC curve), whether lures were high or low in similarity to the targets. However, when a target-absent condition was used in which no lures resembled the targets but the lures were similar to each other, the simultaneous procedure yielded higher false alarm rates (Experiments 2 and 3) and worse overall performance (Experiment 3). This pattern persisted even when we excluded responses that participants opted to withhold rather than volunteer. We conclude that for the basic recognition procedures used in these experiments, simultaneous presentation of alternatives (2AFC) generally leads to better discriminability than does sequential presentation (yes-no) when a target is among the alternatives. However, our results also show that the opposite can occur when there is no target among the alternatives. An important future step is to see whether these patterns extend to more realistic eyewitness lineup procedures. The pictures used in the experiment are available online at http://www.press.uillinois.edu/ journals/ajp/media/testing_recognition/.

Older adults generally perform more poorly on tests of recall than do younger adults (see Balota, Dolan, & Duchek, 2000, for a review), and older adults are also more susceptible [...], In 2 experiments we examined the influence of frontal lobe function on older adults' susceptibility to false memory in a categorized list paradigm. Using a neuropsychological battery of tests developed by Glisky, Polster, and Routhieaux (1995), we designated older adults as having high- or low-frontal function. Young and older adults studied and were tested on categorized lists using free report cued recall and forced report cued recall instructions, with the latter requiring participants to produce responses even if they had to guess. Under free report cued recall instructions, frontal lobe function was a strong predictor of false memories in older adults: Older adults who scored low on tests of frontal functioning demonstrated much higher levels of false recall than younger adults, whereas levels of false recall in high-frontal older adults were more similar to those of young adults. However, after forced report cued recall, high- and low-frontal older adults performed similarly to each other, and both demonstrated higher levels of false recall than young adults. On a final recognition test, high-frontal older adults in both the free report cued recall and forced report cued recall conditions were more successful than low-frontal older adults in using source information to reduce memory errors. The results indicate that older adults show higher levels of false recall than younger adults, but type of test (free report or forced report) and neuropsychological status of older adults mediate these effects. Low-frontal older adults are particularly susceptible to producing false memories on free report tests that entail source monitoring.

In 1957, Ghana obtained its independence, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the Wham-O Company produced the first Frisbee, and the Ford Motor Company produced the Edsel (on what the [...], In 1957 Irvin Rock published an article in the American Journal of Psychology igniting a controversy that dominated the field of verbal learning for the next 8 years before mostly burning out. Rock published 2 paired-associate learning experiments in which he compared performance of a control group that learned a constant list of pairs to the criterion of one perfect trial with an experimental group in which forgotten pairs on each trial were dropped and replaced on the next trial with new pairs. That is, on each trial for experimental subjects, pairs that were correctly recalled were maintained in the next trial, whereas pairs that were not recalled were dropped and replaced randomly with new pairs from a large pool. Surprisingly, Rock found that the 2 groups took the same number of trials to reach criterion. He concluded that learning occurred not with a gradual, incremental increase in strength of memory traces but rather in an all-or-none fashion. Rock's conclusions rocked the world of verbal learning, because all theories followed a gradualist assumption. However, Estes (1960) published research that led him to the same conclusion shortly thereafter. We recount these developments and discuss how the verbal learning establishment rose up to smite down these new ideas, with particular ferocity directed at Rock. Echoing G. A. Miller (1963), we conclude with a note of sympathy for Rock's and Estes's positions and muse about why their work was so summarily dismissed. The important question they raised--the nature of how associations are learned--remains unanswered.

In the standard levels-of-processing (LOP) paradigm, subjects are presented with a question directing them to attend to surface features (case), phonetic features (rhyme), or semantic features (category) of an upcoming word. Answering the question greatly affects recall and recognition for the word, and this outcome is attributed to differing LOP of the word. Craik (1977) reasoned that if the words appeared before the questions (i.e., the word-first paradigm) under intentional learning instructions, the LOP effect would disappear. However, when he conducted experiments using the word-first paradigm, the effect remained. We conducted 2 experiments to try to explain this puzzle. In the first experiment, we replicated Craik's findings in one condition, and in other conditions we asked subjects to make judgments of learning (JOLs) in an attempt to eliminate the LOP effect because JOLs seem to promote deep processing. However, the LOP effect still occurred, albeit in attenuated form. In Experiment 2, we tested 2 new conditions to overcome and explain the LOP effect in the word-first paradigm. In one case, subjects were instructed to use idiosyncratic study strategies to memorize the word; the second condition required subjects to perform pleasantness judgments on the words. The pleasantness rating condition eliminated the LOP effect, but the first did not. We conclude that in the word-first paradigm, subjects typically keep the word in mind without semantic processing using rote rehearsal, despite intentional learning instructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of an initial forced recall test on later recall and recognition tests was examined in younger and older adults. Subjects were presented with categorized word lists and given an initial test under standard cued recall instructions (with a warning against guessing) or forced recall instructions (that required guessing); subjects were later given a cued recall test for the original list items. In 2 experiments, initial forced recall resulted in higher levels of illusory memories on subsequent tests (relative to initial cued recall),especially for older adults. Older adults were more likely to say they remembered rather than knew that forced guesses had occurred in the original study episode. The effect persisted despite a strong warning against making errors in Experiment 2. When a source monitoring test was given, older adults had more difficulty than younger adults in identifying the source of items they had originally produced as guesses. If conditions encourage subjects to guess on a first memory test, they are likely to recollect these guesses as actual memories on later tests. This effect is exaggerated in older adults, probably because of their greater source monitoring difficulties. Both dual process and source monitoring theories provide insight into these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]