Recollection reduces unitised familiarity effect

Two types of encoding tasks have been employed in previous research to investigate the beneficial effect of unitisation on familiarity-based associative recognition (unitised familiarity effect), namely the compound task and the interactive imagery task. Here we show how these two tasks could differentially engage subsequent recollection-based associative recognition and consequently lead to the turn-on or turn-off of the unitised familiarity effect. In the compound task, participants studied unrelated word pairs as newly learned compounds. In the interactive imagery task, participants studied the same word pairs as interactive images. An associative recognition task was used in combination with the Remember/Know procedure to measure recollection-based and familiarity-based associative recognition. The results showed that the unitised familiarity effect was present in the compound task but was absent in the interactive imagery task. A comparison of the compound and the interactive imagery task revealed a dramatic increase in recollection-based associative recognition for the interactive imagery task. These results suggest that unitisation could benefit familiarity-based associative recognition; however, this effect will be eliminated when the memory trace formed is easily accessed by strong recollection without the need for a familiarity assessment.     

The relevance of the first two eye fixations for recognition memory processes

ABSTRACT

Stimuli can be recognised based on information from only one or two eye fixations. With only one fixation, item recognition is typically above chance level and performance generally saturates by the second fixation. Thus, the first two eye fixations play an important role for recognition memory performance. However, little is known about the involved processes. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to investigate hypotheses regarding the role of the first two eye fixations for specific recognition memory processes, that is, familiarity and recollection. In addition, we looked in detail at the unique contributions of (a) longer input duration and (b) additional information provided by a second fixation for familiarity- and recollection-based recognition, using a gaze-contingent stimulus presentation technique. The experiments showed that recollection- but not familiarity-based recognition increased with two compared to only one fixation, and that the second fixation boosted recollection both due to longer availability of the input and additional stimulus information gathered.     

Response bias,recollection, and familiarity in individuals with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)

ABSTRACT

The current study focused on individuals with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) and had two main objectives: 1) investigate whether HSAMs have increased recollection performance compared to controls, and 2) investigate whether HSAMs have a reliably different response bias than controls. While previous lab-based recognition tests have shown that HSAMs have normal memory performance, these tests were based on a mixture of both recollection and familiarity. Here, we employed recognition tests specifically designed to separate recollected responses from those based on familiarity. Additionally, we were interested in how HSAMs make their memory decisions. Several studies have shown a great deal of variability between individuals in their response bias. Here, individuals with HSAM and age- matched controls completed a remember/know and a source memory test. HSAMs behaved like controls in both overall and recollection-based memory discrimination. However, HSAMs showed a significantly more liberal response bias, endorsing more items as “old” than controls. These findings contribute to our understanding of how memory processes – especially those related to decision-making – function in those with superior memory abilities and may help elucidate how other (non-HSAM) memory experts make decisions.     

Recollection can be weak and familiarity can be strong

The remember-know procedure is widely used to investigate recollection and familiarity in recognition memory, but almost all of the results obtained with that procedure can be readily accommodated by a unidimensional model based on signal-detection theory. The unidimensional model holds that remember judgments reflect strong memories (associated with high confidence, high accuracy, and fast reaction times), whereas know judgments reflect weaker memories (associated with lower confidence, lower accuracy, and slower reaction times). Although this is invariably true on average, a new 2-dimensional account (the continuous dual-process model) suggests that remember judgments made with low confidence should be associated with lower old-new accuracy but higher source accuracy than know judgments made with high confidence. We tested this prediction--and found evidence to support it--using a modified remember-know procedure in which participants were first asked to indicate a degree of recollection-based or familiarity-based confidence for each word presented on a recognition test and were then asked to recollect the color (red or blue) and screen location (top or bottom) associated with the word at study. For familiarity-based decisions, old-new accuracy increased with old-new confidence, but source accuracy did not (suggesting that stronger old-new memory was supported by higher degrees of familiarity). For recollection-based decisions, both old-new accuracy and source accuracy increased with old-new confidence (suggesting that stronger old-new memory was supported by higher degrees of recollection). These findings suggest that recollection and familiarity are continuous processes and that participants can indicate which process mainly contributed to their recognition decisions.     

Dissociating familiarity from recollection in human recognition memory: Different rates of forgetting over short retention intervals

Two functionally distinct forms of recognition memory have been identified in human and nonhuman species—the ability to recollect qualitative information about previous events, and the ability to differentiate between familiar and novel stimuli. Separate dual-process theories have been developed in the animal and human literatures to account for these findings. However, it is not clear whether these theories describe the same two underlying memory processes. On the basis of animal studies of medial temporal lobe function, familiarity is expected to exhibit disproportionately fast forgetting compared with recollection over short retention intervals. We tested this prediction in healthy human subjects by examining recognition forgetting rates across a range of 8–32 intervening items and found significant forgetting in the accuracy of familiarity-based discriminations and no evidence of forgetting in the accuracy of recollection-based discriminations. In agreement with the results from nonhuman species, the present results indicate that item familiarity decreases more rapidly than recollection over short retention intervals.     

The medial temporal lobe and the attributes of memory

Neuroimaging and lesion studies have seemed to converge on the idea that the hippocampus selectively supports recollection. However, these studies usually involve a comparison between strong recollection-based memories and weak familiarity-based memories. Studies that avoid confounding memory strength with recollection and familiarity almost always find that the hippocampus supports both recollection and familiarity. We argue that the functional organization of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) is unlikely to be illuminated by the psychological distinction between recollection and familiarity and will be better informed by findings from neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. These findings indicate that the different structures of the MTL process different attributes of experience. By representing the widest array of attributes, the hippocampus supports recollection-based and familiarity-based memory of multiattribute stimuli.     

Memory for unidentified items: Evidence for the use of letter information in familiarity processes

Participants can give accurate recognition judgments to word fragments that they are unable to complete. In three experiments, the generality of this finding was examined across tasks. Accurate memory judgments in the absence of identification were obtained in item recognition and judgments of presentation frequency but not in associative recognition or list discrimination. The former two tasks are thought to involve the use of familiarity; the latter two are thought to rely on recollection. The present results are consistent with the claim that recognition without identification reflects familiarity processes.     

双加工再认提取中的情绪记忆增强效应

根据双加工理论, 再认提取可以划分为两种不同的加工：熟悉性与回想。以往的研究普遍认为情绪对再认提取具有增强效应, 但是情绪对再认记忆中两种不同加工方式(熟悉性与回想)的增强效应的神经机制尚存争议。本研究以ERP作为测量手段, 采用修正的“记得/知道”范式对情绪图片进行再认测验, 旨在探究在学习?测验间隔较长的条件下, 情绪信息如何对熟悉性与回想产生增强效应。在行为结果中, 对于知道判断, 情绪图片的记忆表现显著高于中性图片, 情绪效价间没有差异; 对于记得判断, 负性情绪图片的记忆表现要显著高于正性与中性图片。在ERP数据上, 对于知道判断, 情绪图片的FN400新旧效应有增强作用。对于记得判断, 负性图片的LPC的新旧效应波幅显著高于中性与负性图片; 而正性图片的LPC新旧效应增强作用不显著。以上证据表明：学习?测验间隔较长的情况下, 熟悉性再认提取中, 情绪记忆增强效应主要体现在情绪唤醒对记忆强度的提高, 而不仅仅体现在情绪效价对熟悉判断反应倾向的影响。在回想的再认提取中, 情绪效价的调节占据主导地位, 负性情绪图片有显著的情绪记忆增强效应; 正性情绪图片则不具有增强效应。     

Elaborative processing and conjunction errors in recognition memory

Four experiments were conducted in order to examine the influence of elaborative processing at encoding on recognition memory conjunction lure errors. In these experiments, participants generated cues for compound words as wholes (e.g., haywire) or as separate entities (e.g., hay, wire). Studied words were re-presented in exact form (old) or recombined to form conjunction lures on the recognition test. Participants were asked to make old-new judgments and to indicate whether they had rejected items judged to be new because of recall of a studied item or because of lack of familiarity with an item. The results suggested that recall-to-reject processing and conjunction lure familiarity increased with both types of generation, although generation of cues for compound words as a whole did not influence conjunction lure error rates. An emphasis on processing each constituent of a compound word during encoding increased the familiarity of those constituents more than generation of a compound word as a whole, resulting in an increase in conjunction lure errors. These results suggest that both familiarity and recollection-based monitoring processes influence conjunction lure errors, and therefore support dual-process theories of recognition memory.     

Recognition memory and awareness: An experiential approach

Abstract

This article reviews recent studies that have adopted an experiential approach to recognition memory and awareness. This approach measures two subjective states of awareness in recognition memory, remembering (or conscious recollection) and knowing (or familiarity). There is now evidence of quite a few experimental dissociations between these two states of awareness. These dissociations impose additional constraints on theories about relations between awareness and memory systems or processes.     

Revisiting the role of recollection in item versus forced-choice recognition memory

Many memory theorists have assumed that forced-choice recognition tests can rely more on familiarity, whereas item (yes-no) tests must rely more on recollection. In actuality, several studies have found no differences in the contributions of recollection and familiarity underlying the two different test formats. Using word frequency to manipulate stimulus characteristics, the present study demonstrated that the contributions of recollection to item versus forced-choice tests is variable. Low word frequency resulted in significantly more recollection in an item test than did a forced-choice procedure, but high word frequency produced the opposite result. These results clearly constrain any uniform claim about the degree to which recollection supports responding in item versus forced-choice tests.     

Word frequency effects in associative and item recognition

The word frequency effect (WFE) has been taken as evidence that recall and recognition are in some way fundamentally different. Consequently, most models assume that recall and recognition operate via very different retrieval mechanisms. Experiment 1 showed that the WFE reverses for associative recognition, which requires discrimination between intact test pairs and recombinations of study list words from different study pairs. Experiment 2, in which word triples were used, revealed an interaction between word frequency and test type: for item recognition, performance was better for low-frequency words; however, for associative recognition and free recall, performance was better for high-frequency words. In Experiment 3, item recognition was tested: although overall performance was better for low-frequency words, the recognition advantage for items in intact pairs was larger for high-frequency words, suggesting two components in recognition memory. These results imply common mechanisms in recall and recognition. Theoretical implications are discussed within the framework of the SAM model.     

熟悉性与回想分离的新证据

人们常常发现自己对某一情景有些熟悉, 但又想不起以前有关的经历。对这种熟悉感的理论解释, 一种观点认为熟悉感来自一种较弱的记忆形式, 与有回忆情况下的再认属于同一加工过程(single-process models, SPM)。另一种观点则认为, 熟悉感来自一种基于熟悉性的再认, 与基于回想的再认相互独立(dual-process theories, DPT)。在实验室, 评估熟悉性与回想是否相互独立的基本方法是寻找两者分离的证据。本文尝试梳理无线索回忆再认(recognition without cued recall, RWCR)范式的研究, 结果显示：熟悉性对某种特殊的概念加工和整体特征的知觉加工要比回想更加敏感, 并没有支持SPM关于回想和熟悉性各自对意义加工和局部特征的知觉加工更加敏感的推断。而且RWCR研究还观测到熟悉性与回想在行为和神经成像方面的实验性分离, 支持了DPT关于熟悉性与回想相互独立的推断。最后, 本文从熟悉性的深层机制和中英文材料对RWCR的不同影响出发, 对未来研究提出展望。     

Not all sources of familiarity are created equal: the case of word frequency and repetition in episodic recognition

Low-frequency (LF) words produce higher hit rates and lower false alarm rates than high-frequency (HF) words. This word frequency mirror pattern has been interpreted within dual-process models of recognition, which assume the contributions of a slower recollective process and a relatively fast-acting familiarity process. In the present experiments, recollection and familiarity were placed in opposition using Jacoby, L. L., Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 513–541 (1991), two-list exclusion paradigm with HF and LF words. Exclusion errors to LF words exceeded those to HF words at fast deadlines, whereas the reverse occurred at slow deadlines. In Experiments 2 and 3, false alarms to HF nonpresented lures were higher than to LF nonpresented lures, indicating the use of baseline familiarity for totally new items. Combined, these results indicate that in addition to baseline familiarity and recollection, a third process involving the assessment of a relative change in familiarity is involved in recognition performance. Both relative changes in familiarity and recollection processes have distinct time courses and are engaged when there is diagnostic list information available, whereas baseline familiarity is used when there is no diagnostic information available (e.g., for nonpresented lure items).     

The Role of Recollection and Familiarity in Nondemented Parkinson's Patients

The aim of the current study was to examine if recollection and familiarity decline in nondemented Parkinson's patients. To do so we compared a sample of older people with Parkinson's disease (n = 32) to a control sample of healthy older people (n = 32) on an associative recognition task in which we manipulated the repetition of the pairs during the study phase (half of the pairs were presented once and half twice) to obtain corrected estimates of recollection, familiarity, and false recognition based on the logic of the process-dissociation procedure. The results clearly show that recollection is impaired but familiarity is preserved in nondemented Parkinson's patients. The results show that memory for pairs in Parkinson's patients relies largely on the familiarity of each item and not on a precise recollection of associative information, supporting the idea that recollection-based monitoring processes are impaired in these patients.     

How semantic content of stimuli works on episodic memory processes in negative schizophrenia: Evidence from picture recognition

IntroductionEven though episodic memory is impaired in schizophrenia, semantic processing strategies can improve patients’ performance. However, it is less clear if negative schizophrenia patients can benefit from semantic strategies, and if both familiarity and recollection processes can be enhanced in patients with schizophrenia.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the possibility for negative schizophrenia patients to enhance their familiarity and/or recollection processes in the presence of concrete images.MethodA recognition memory task using concrete versus abstract images as stimuli was designed to assess the performance of schizophrenia patients for single item recognition and the recollection of spatial context, allowing us to calculate the estimates of familiarity and recollection processes. Thirty-six patients with schizophrenia and 18 healthy individuals participated to the study. Schizophrenia patients were divided into two groups according to their scores on the negative scale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS).ResultsResults showed that, while healthy participants enhanced their recollection estimates in the presence of concrete images, both schizophrenia groups could enhance their familiarity estimates.ConclusionSemantic strategies are helpful to promote successful familiarity process in schizophrenia patients, independently from clinical dimension of negativity. However, recollection process seems not to respond to such strategies.     

Age-related differences in associative memory depend on the types of associations that are formed

ABSTRACT

Building on well-established findings of age-related decline in associative memory, we examined whether the magnitude of age differences depends on the types of associations that are formed. Specifically, because of predominant age-related changes in the hippocampus, we expected to find larger age differences in recognition of between-domain than within-domain associations. Twenty younger and 20 older healthy adults were given two associative recognition tests, using face–name and word–word pairs, that were matched for difficulty level. As hypothesized, a three-way interaction indicated that, relative to item recognition, age differences in associative recognition were greater for between-domain face–name associations than for within-domain word–word associations. This dissociation is consistent with the idea that the hippocampus plays a prominent role in binding information received from distal neocortical regions. The discussion focuses on the roles of recollection and familiarity in supporting associative memory as well as implications for the remediation of age-related memory decline.     

Effects of retention intervals on receiver operating characteristics in artificial grammar learning

Current theories of memory suggest that recognition is composed of separate processes of familiarity and recollection (e.g. [Yonelinas, A. P. (2002). The nature of recollection and familiarity: a review of 30 years of research. Journal of Memory and Language, 46, 441-517]). A key feature of these two processes is that they decay, or are forgotten at different rates. The dual-process model has also been useful in understanding artificial grammar learning. We obtained evidence for recollection and familiarity in artificial grammar learning by analyses of receiver operating characteristics (ROC). Furthermore we found that these were dissociated by retention intervals of 14 days. The slope of the zROC curves deviated reliably from 1 immediately after study and increased towards 1 suggesting that recollection contributed to recognition decisions but declined over the 14-day period leaving familiarity as the only basis for recognition. These data show similar patterns to those observed in word-recognition [Gardiner, J. M., & Java, R. I. (1991). Forgetting in recognition memory with and without recollective experience. Memory &Cognition, 19, 617-623; Tunney, R. J. (submitted for publication). Changes in the subjective experience of recognition over time suggest independent processes] and confirm the view that recollection and familiarity are implicated in artificial grammar learning. Moreover, the data confirm the finding that recollection and familiarity-based memory show different patterns of forgetting.     

Recognition memory ROCs for item and associative information: The contribution of recollection and familiarity

Receiver-operating characteristics (ROCs) were examined in three recognition memory experiments. ROCs for item information (i.e., was this word presented?) were found to be curvilinear. However, ROCs for associative information (i.e., were these two words presented together?) were found to be linear. The results are in agreement with the predictions of a dual-process model that assumes that recognition judgments are -based on familiarity and recollection. Familiarity reflects the assessment of a continuous strength dimension and is well described as a signal detection process, whereas recollection reflects the retrieval of qualitative information about the study episode and behaves like a discrete threshold process. The results showed that memory judgments about items relied on a combination of recollection and familiarity, but that judgments about associations relied primarily on recollection. Further examination of the associative ROCs suggested that subjects were able to recollect that old pairs of items were in the study list, and, under some conditions, that new pairs were not in the study list.     

Recognition memory for faces: When familiarity supports associative recognition judgments

Recognition memory for single items can be dissociated from recognition memory for the associations between items. For example, recognition tests for single words produce curvilinear receiver operating characteristics (ROCs), but associative recognition tests for word pairs produce linear ROCs. These dissociations are consistent with dual-process theories of recognition and suggest that associative recognition relies on recollection but that item recognition relies on a combination of recollection and assessments of familiarity. In the present study, we examined associative recognition ROCs for facial stimuli by manipulating the central and external features, in order to determine whether linear ROCs would be observed for stimuli other than arbitrary word pairs. When the faces were presented upright, familiarity estimates were significantly above zero, and the associative ROCs were curvilinear, suggesting that familiarity contributed to associative judgments. However, presenting the faces upside down effectively eliminated the contribution of familiarity to associative recognition, and the ROCs were linear. The results suggest that familiarity can support associative recognition judgments, if the associated components are encoded as a coherent gestalt, as in upright faces.