Judgment heuristics and recognition memory: Prime identification and target-processing fluency

In three experiments, the effect of identification of a briefly presented word (prime) on a subsequent recognition response to that word (target) was investigated. Theories of current processing fluency (e.g., Jacoby & Whitehouse, 1989) suggest that prime identification should reduce P(old) relative to prime misidentification because awareness of the prime provides a source to which to attribute target fluency, rendering attributions to prior presentation less likely. However, counter to these predictions, Experiment 1 demonstrated that prime identification increased P(old) relative to misidentified primes. It is hypothesized that this reversed effect was due to participants' using a heuristic that related prime identification success to prior presentation but was not based on current processing fluency. In Experiment 2, participants were induced to avoid using this heuristic by making an alternate source for prime identification success (display duration) highly available. Under these circumstances, prime identification reduced P(old) relative to prime misidentification, suggesting that participants now relied on current processing fluency rather than on prime identification success. Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiments 1 and 2, but with fixed rather than variable prime displays.     

Abstract analogies and positive transfer in artificial grammar learning.

Following Brooks and Vokey (1991), we show that positive transfer to new items generated from an artificial grammar in which the vocabulary has been changed from training to test can be based on "abstract analogy" to specific training items (specific similarity) rather than abstraction of a grammar and symbol remapping rules, even with remapping unique to each test item. The results confirm that transcendence over symbols provides no support for the implicit learning of abstract structure. Ironically, they also show that the effect of specific similarity does not depend on surface characteristics of the items, but the residual effect of grammaticality does.     

Learning the Experimenter's Design Tacit: Sensitivity to the Structure of Memory Lists

Two experiments are reported that draw an analogy between experiments on verbal memory and experiments on tacit learning. Rules that experimenters use to select words for memory experiments, such as frequency, length, and grammatical class, produce consistencies to which subjects can become sensitive. Replicating the key results from the tacit learning literature, subjects in our experiments discriminated new words consistent with the experimenters' selection rules from inconsistent words, even when they could not describe those rules. The results also reveal a close relation between the information underlying both recognition memory and classification judgements. In particular, a 'mirror effect' (Glanzer & Bowles, 1976) is found with both tasks. Implications for research on memory and learning are discussed.     

Regulation of memory accuracy with multiple answers: the plurality option

We report two experiments that investigated the regulation of memory accuracy with a new regulatory mechanism: the plurality option. This mechanism is closely related to the grain-size option but involves control over the number of alternatives contained in an answer rather than the quantitative boundaries of a single answer. Participants were presented with a slideshow depicting a robbery (Experiment 1) or a murder (Experiment 2), and their memory was tested with five-alternative multiple-choice questions. For each question, participants were asked to generate two answers: a single answer consisting of one alternative and a plural answer consisting of the single answer and two other alternatives. Each answer was rated for confidence (Experiment 1) or for the likelihood of being correct (Experiment 2), and one of the answers was selected for reporting. Results showed that participants used the plurality option to regulate accuracy, selecting single answers when their accuracy and confidence were high, but opting for plural answers when they were low. Although accuracy was higher for selected plural than for selected single answers, the opposite pattern was evident for confidence or likelihood ratings. This dissociation between confidence and accuracy for selected answers was the result of marked overconfidence in single answers coupled with underconfidence in plural answers. We hypothesize that these results can be attributed to overly dichotomous metacognitive beliefs about personal knowledge states that cause subjective confidence to be extreme.     

Effects of study list composition on the word frequency effect and metacognitive attributions in recognition memory

In two experiments, study-list composition was manipulated and its impact was observed on metacognitive judgements associated with recognition hits (Hs) and false alarms (FAs). Both studies involved recognition of high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) words, and focused on the FA portion of the word frequency effect. Our hypothesis was that participants can actively reject items that are distinctive from the study list, and that this effect may be strong enough to overcome the FA word frequency effect. Experiment 1 manipulated list composition with a conjunctive rule and Experiment 2 varied it by having participants study either HF or LF items prior to a test consisting of words of both frequencies. In each study H rate, FA rate, and metacognitive attributions underlying recognition decisions were investigated. In both studies, participants reported rejecting test items predominantly through a process of active rejection, which was more often reported for LF items. This effect was strong enough to reverse the FA portion of the word frequency effect in Experiment 2, but not Experiment 1. The results are discussed in terms of metacognitive rejection mechanisms in recognition memory.     

Release from generation failure: The role of study list structure

Three experiments, using the original encoding-specificity paradigm, investigated the role of study list structure in producing Higham and Tam's (2005) generation failure effect. Generation failure occurs when cued recall performance for strong, extralist cues is worse than target production in a control group that is given no study list but is instead required merely to generate responses to the same test cues. In the present study, generation failure was replicated in Experiment 1, and Experiment 2 demonstrated that strong, extralist cues were more likely to elicit targets in pure generation groups when participants had studied a list of strong associates than when they had studied a list of weak ones. In Experiment 3, participants were released from generation failure when a study list of moderate associates was used and the cue-to-target associative strength was equated between the reinstated- and extralist-cue conditions. Together, these results suggest that generation failure is partly attributable to participants' searching inappropriate domains that, though consistent with the study list structure, are unlikely to contain targets.     

Selecting accurate statements from the cognitive interview using confidence ratings

Participants viewed a videotape of a simulated murder, and their recall (and confidence) was tested 1 week later with the cognitive interview. Results indicated that (a) the subset of statements assigned high confidence was more accurate than the full set of statements; (b) the accuracy benefit was limited to information that forensic experts considered relevant to an investigation, whereas peripheral information showed the opposite pattern; (c) the confidence-accuracy relationship was higher for relevant than for peripheral information; (d) the focused-retrieval phase was associated with a greater proportion of peripheral and a lesser proportion of relevant information than the other phases; and (e) only about 50% of the relevant information was elicited, and most of this was elicited in Phase 1.     

Hoping to Live a “Normal” Life Whilst Living with Unpredictable Health and Fear of Death: Impact of Cystic Fibrosis on Young Adults

This study aimed to explore the hopes and fears of young adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). Fifteen young adults with CF, aged 18–29, were interviewed about their hopes and fears using a grounded theory approach. Five themes were identified during the analysis: perceptions of living with unpredictable health and fear of death and dying; hopes for normality; hopes for a normal relationship and/or marriage; hopes for having children; and hopes for a normal work life. Participants feared the unpredictable nature of CF and the suffering that they believed they would have to endure due to ill health before premature death. Despite their fears, participants hoped to live a “normal” life by achieving their hopes of having long-lasting relationships, having children and pursuing a career. The findings highlight the need to help alleviate the fears of young adults with CF and to enable them to plan to achieve their hopes, hence giving them a sense of control over their condition.     

Not all errors are created equal: metacognition and changing answers on multiple-choice tests.

Two experiments investigated the role of metacognition in changing answers to multiple-choice, general-knowledge questions. Both experiments revealed qualitatively different errors produced by speeded responding versus confusability amongst the alternatives; revision completely corrected the former, but had no effect on the latter. Experiment 2 also demonstrated that a pretest, designed to make participants' actual experience with answer changing either positive or negative, affected the tendency to correct errors. However, this effect was not apparent in the proportion of correct responses; it was only discovered when the metacognitive component to answer changing was isolated with a Type 2 signal-detection measure of discrimination. Overall, the results suggest that future research on answer changing should more closely consider the metacognitive factors underlying answer changing, using Type 2 signal-detection theory to isolate these aspects of performance.