Test of Competing Explanations of the Bizarre Response Bias in Recognition Memory

Recent research has demonstrated that a more liberal response criterion is used when people make judgments about bizarre items than about common items in old-new tests of recognition. The present study was designed to test 2 possible explanations of the bizarre response bias. The bizarre-relations explanation suggests that the bizarre response bias is triggered by the bizarre relations depicted in test items. The target-constituent explanation suggests that the bizarre response bias is the result of a sense of familiarity with constituents of bizarre test items. These explanations were tested by examining the influence of lure manipulations on memory discrimination and response bias for common and bizarre hand-drawn pictures. The results indicated support for the target-constituent explanation by reversing the response bias (obtaining a common response bias) in a recognition test that used common lures containing constituents from bizarre target items and bizarre lures containing constituents from common target items. The results also indicated that increased verbal elaboration enhanced memory discrimination and reduced response bias for both common and bizarre stimuli. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to the false memory controversy.     

Test of competing explanations of the bizarre response bias in recognition memory

Recent research has demonstrated that a more liberal response criterion is used when people make judgments about bizarre items than about common items in old-new tests of recognition. The present study was designed to test 2 possible explanations of the bizarre response bias. The bizarre-relations explanation suggests that the bizarre response bias is triggered by the bizarre relations depicted in test items. The target-constituent explanation suggests that the bizarre response bias is the result of a sense of familiarity with constituents of bizarre test items. These explanations were tested by examining the influence of lure manipulations on memory discrimination and response bias for common and bizarre hand-drawn pictures. The results indicated support for the target-constituent explanation by reversing the response bias (obtaining a common response bias) in a recognition test that used common lures containing constituents from bizarre target items and bizarre lures containing constituents from common target items. The results also indicated that increased verbal elaboration enhanced memory discrimination and reduced response bias for both common and bizarre stimuli. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to the false memory controversy.     

Emotion and recognition memory: the discrimination of negative information as an adaptive process

We studied the effect of emotion generated by IAPS (International Affective Picture System) pictures on incidental recognition of these pictures for short retention periods (15 min). Memorization distraction tasks and reaction time tasks were used together with short exposure times (2 seconds per picture) in order to prevent a high recognition rate that would impede testing for the effect of emotion on discrimination parameters (A′) and response bias (B′′D) (ceiling effect). We used 80 pictures representing the medium and high levels of two-dimensional emotional space. The results showed greater discrimination and a more conservative response style to unpleasant and medium arousal level pictures. These pictures produced higher confidence and lower response times in the recognition phase. The results can be explained by the negative content of the pictures and activation level effects on attentional processing and memory, and can be interpreted as a phenomenon that is evolutionarily adaptive.     

The effect of context on discrimination and bias in recognition memory for pictures and words

When the context accompanying a to-be-remembered word is changed between study and test, recognition memory is impaired. The deleterious effect of context change on recognition memory can be viewed as support for encoding specificity theory, semantic theory, or the existence of two bases for recognition. A fourth possible interpretation, examined here, is that the effect of context change on recognition memory is due to an accompanying change in response bias, rather than a "true" decrease in sensitivity to old and new items. In two experiments, the effect of context change on discrimination and bias in recognition of simple line drawings and their names was examined. Bias was measured using two measures shown by Snodgrass and Corwin (1988) to be theoretically independent of their associated discrimination measures. Context change produced marked conservatism in response bias in both experiments but demonstrated an effect on discrimination in the second experiment only. The shift from a neutral to a conservative response strategy as a result of context change may also be seen in other experiments, in which the same experimental paradigm was used with a variety of stimulus materials. We suggest that the major effect of context manipulation is to produce a change in bias. A stimulus in a familiar environment appears to be more familiar than a stimulus in a strange environment, regardless of its old/new status. In addition, there appears to be a true decrease in discrimination with context change, but this is more difficult to detect. The finding that pictures, which are less polysemous than words, are as affected by context change as words are supports encoding specificity theory over semantic theory.     

Pragmatics of measuring recognition memory: applications to dementia and amnesia

This article has two purposes. The first is to describe four theoretical models of yes-no recognition memory and present their associated measures of discrimination and response bias. These models are then applied to a set of data from normal subjects to determine which pairs of discrimination and bias indices show independence between discrimination and bias. The following models demonstrated independence: a two-high-threshold model, a signal detection model with normal distributions using d' and C (rather than beta), and a signal detection model with logistic distributions and a bias measure analogous to C. C is defined as the distance of criterion from the intersection of the two underlying distributions. The second purpose is to use the indices from the acceptable models to characterize recognition memory deficits in dementia and amnesia. Young normal subjects, Alzheimer's disease patients, and parkinsonian dementia patients were tested with picture recognition tasks with repeated study-test trials. Huntington's disease patients, mixed etiology amnesics, and age-matched normals were tested by Butters, Wolfe, Martone, Granholm, and Cermak (1985) using the same paradigm with word stimuli. Demented and amnesic patients produced distinctly different patterns of abnormal memory performance. Both groups of demented patients showed poor discrimination and abnormally liberal response bias for words (Huntington's disease) and pictures (Alzheimer's disease and parkinsonian dementia), whereas the amnesic patients showed the worst discrimination but normal response bias for words. Although both signal detection theory and two-high-threshold discrimination parameters showed identical results, the bias measure from the two-high-threshold model was more sensitive to change than the bias measure (C) from signal detection theory. Three major points are emphasized. First, any index of recognition memory performance assumes an underlying model. Second, even acceptable models can lead to different conclusions about patterns of learning and forgetting. Third, efforts to characterize and ameliorate abnormal memory should address both discrimination and bias deficits.     

青少年负性情绪信息记忆偏向的情绪弹性和性别效应

为了探讨情绪弹性和性别变量对青少年再认记忆负性情绪信息的影响,该实验采用再认记忆测验范式,以49名青少年为被试,以负性情绪图片为实验材料,考察了不同情绪弹性和性别的青少年再认负性情绪图片时的错误率差异。结果发现,情绪弹性对再认记忆负性情绪图片的主效应显著,统计效力明显。性别对再认记忆负性情绪图片的主效应显著,统计效力明显。情绪弹性与性别在再认记忆上的交互作用不显著。这说明青少年负性情绪信息加工过程中产生的记忆偏向效应受情绪弹性和性别因素的影响。     

Representations of motion and direction

In 6 experiments, incidental memory was tested for direction of motion in an old-new recognition paradigm. Ability to recognize previously shown directions depended greatly on motion type. Memory for translation and expansion-contraction direction was highly veridical, whereas memory for rotation direction was conspicuously absent. Similar results were obtained in conditions in which motions were illustrated with pictures. Results suggest that explicit representations of direction in long-term memory are not so much related to motion per se as to the consequences of motion, the displacements of objects. Memory for all motions following circular pathways was found to be corrupted by a generic bias to regard the clockwise direction as familiar. Assessment of memory in these cases required disentangling familiarity bias for the clockwise direction from explicit recognition of direction.     

Recognition memory for words and pictures at short and long retention intervals

In two experiments, subjects studied a long series of words and pictures for recognition. Retention intervals varied from several minutes to a few months. The complicated testing procedures in Experiment I required the use of a traditional correction for guessing to obtain estimates of subjects' memory performance. A comparable, but simpler, design in Experiment II permitted the calculation of sensitivity and bias measures. In both studies, pictorial memory was superior to verbal memory at all retention intervals tested, and this advantage was essentially constant over time. In addition, the experiments identified an increasing tendency to call verbal test items "old" over time. Bias scores in Experiment H revealed that subjects adopted a more lenient criterion in responding to words than to pictures, and increased leniency was noted for both item types over time. Explanations of the results are offered in terms of differences in initial encoding and of a loss of discrimination between experimental and extraexperimental materials.     

Situation models and retrieval interference: pictures and words

Previous studies have found that interference in long-term memory retrieval occurs when information cannot be integrated into a single situation model, but this interference is greatly reduced or absent when the information can be so integrated. The current study looked at the influence of presentation format-sentences or pictures-on this observed pattern. When sentences were used at memorisation and recognition, a spatial organisation was observed. In contrast, when pictures were used, a different pattern of results was observed. Specifically, there was an overall speed-up in response times, and consistent evidence of interference. Possible explanations for this difference were examined in a third experiment using pictures during learning, but sentences during recognition. The results from Experiment 3 were consistent with the organisation of information into situation models in long-term memory, even from pictures. This suggests that people do create situation models when learning pictures, but their recognition memory may be oriented around more "verbatim", surface-form memories of the pictures.     

超重女性对食物信息加工的注意偏向和记忆偏向

采用与食物图片相关的点探测任务和学习—再认范式考察超重女性对不同热量食物信息的注意偏向和记忆偏向。结果发现：(1) 超重女性对高热量食物信息存在注意警觉—注意脱离困难模式,对低热量食物信息仅表现为注意回避模式。(2) 超重组女性对高热量食物信息的再认正确率显著高于正常体重组,而对低热量食物信息的再认成绩组间差异不显著。研究结果证实了超重女性对高热量食物信息投入更多的认知资源,存在注意偏向和记忆偏向。     

Directed forgetting for categorised pictures: recognition memory for perceptual details versus gist

ABSTRACT

Item-based directed forgetting (DF) was tested using 2-alternative forced-choice recognition to examine the effects of forgetting instructions on memory for perceptual detail and gist of categorised pictures of scenes and objects in three experiments. When the distractor is from the same category as the target (exemplar test condition), discrimination must be based on memory for perceptual details, whereas recognition can be based on gist or general category information when the distractor is from a novel category (novel test condition). Recognition accuracy was greater for Remember-cued than Forget-cued pictures when discrimination must be based on perceptual details in the exemplar test condition but not when discrimination could be based on gist in the novel test condition. Accuracy in scene and object recognition is greater for gist than for perceptual details, and DF instructions serve to reduce recognition memory based on perceptual details.     

Enhanced recognition of memorable pictures in ultra-fast RSVP

Long-term recognition memory for some pictures is consistently better than for others (Isola, Xiao, Parikh, Torralba, & Oliva, IEEE Transaction on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), 36(7), 1469–1482, 2014). Here, we investigated whether pictures found to be memorable in a long-term memory test are also perceived more easily when presented in ultra-rapid RSVP. Participants viewed 6 pictures they had never seen before that were presented for 13 to 360 ms per picture in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sequence. In half the trials, one of the pictures was a memorable or a nonmemorable picture and perception of this picture was probed by a visual recognition test at the end of the sequence. Recognition for pictures from the memorable set was higher than for those from the nonmemorable set, and this difference increased with increasing duration. Nonmemorable picture recognition was low initially, did not increase until 120 ms, and never caught up with memorable picture recognition performance. Thus, the long-term memorability of an image is associated with initial perceptibility: A picture that is hard to grasp quickly is hard to remember later.     

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。     

情绪效价和唤醒对熟悉性和回想的不同影响

本研究检验了情绪的效价和唤醒对记忆提取阶段熟悉性过程和回想过程的影响及其心理机制。结果发现,编码阶段无分心任务时,积极图片的高、低自信再认准确率均高于消极图片,而唤醒对于高自信再认准确率的影响只限于消极图片;在编码阶段设置分心任务时,发现积极和消极的高唤醒图片的高自信再认准确率显著高于低唤醒图片。这些结果说明情绪的效价影响了熟悉性和回想两类记忆过程,而唤醒只影响回想过程,效价效应是编码阶段被试调用认知资源对积极图片进行精细加工的结果,而唤醒对回想过程的影响是自动编码高唤醒刺激细节的结果。     

老年人错误记忆的情绪效价和时间效应

基于信号检测论的框架, 考察不同的情绪效价以及时间间隔如何交互影响老年人在图片再认任务中的辨别力(d′)和判断标准(β), 进而影响其错误记忆。以21名老年人(女性14名)为被试, 平均年龄67.17 ± 5.03岁。根据中国老年人对国际情绪图片库(International Affective Picture System, IAPS)中图片评定的情绪参数, 选出积极、消极和中性图片各60张作为学习材料。另选积极、消极和中性图片各30张作为每次再认测验的干扰材料, 并且两次再认测验的干扰材料不同。短时间隔条件让老年人在图片记忆编码半个小时后完成对图片的再认测验; 长时间隔条件则为在三周后完成对图片的再认测验。结果发现: 1)在短时间隔条件下, β和d′共同影响虚报率; 而在长时间隔条件下, 只有β影响虚报率, d′不影响虚报率; 2)无论是在短时还是长时间隔条件下, 积极图片与消极图片的判别力d′都没有显著差别; 3)在短时间隔条件下, 老年人对消极图片的β更低、虚报率更高; 在长时间隔条件下, 老年人对积极图片的β更低、虚报率更高。研究结果表明: 老年人的错误记忆受判别力d′和判断标准β的影响。情绪效价通过作用于老年人的反应倾向(判断标准β)、而非记忆质量(判别力d′)来影响其错误记忆。时间间隔可以调节情绪效价对老年人判断标准β和错误记忆的作用, 使之随时间发生反转。老年人的“积极效应”在错误记忆中可能表现为随着时间的流逝, 老年人更愿意将积极信息报告为经历或学习过的信息。     

Recognizing images: The role of motivational significance,complexity, social content,age, and gender

Memory for affective events plays an important role in determining people’s behavior and well-being. Its determinants are far from being completely understood. We investigated how recognition memory for affective pictures depends on pictures’ motivational significance (valence and arousal), complexity (figure-ground compositions vs. scenes), and social content (pictures with people vs. without people) and on observers’ age and gender. Younger, middle-aged, and older adults viewed 84 pictures depicting real-life situations. After a break, the participants viewed 72 pictures, half of which had been viewed previously and half of which were novel, and were asked to endorse whether each picture was novel or had been presented previously. Hits, false alarms, and overall performance (discrimination accuracy) were our dependent variables. The main findings were that, across participants, recognition memory was better for unpleasant than pleasant pictures and for pictures depicting people than pictures without people. Low-arousal pictures were more accurately recognized than high-arousal pictures, and this effect was significantly larger among middle-aged and older adults than younger adults. Recognition memory worsened across adulthood, and this decline was steeper among men than women. Middle-aged and older women outperformed their male counterparts. This study suggests that how well we are able to successfully discriminate previously seen pictorial stimuli from novel stimuli depends on several pictures’ properties related to their motivational significance and content, and on observer’s age and gender.     

Measuring recognition memory.

Recent years have seen an expanded interest in recognition memory tasks. This resurgence of interest has also renewed concerns with measurement problems. Comparing 4 models of recognition memory, Snodgrass and Corwin (1988) found that measures of bias from the distribution-free (nonparametric) model were inadequate. However, their analysis was based on bias measures that can be shown a priori to be nonindependent of discrimination. This article traces the history of the nonparametric model and develops a better measure of bias. The consequence of developing this better measure is that the nonparametric model deserves serious consideration.     

Capacity and limits of associative memory in pigeons

How much information can a brain store over a lifetime’s experience? The answer to this important, but little researched, question was investigated by looking at the long-term visual memory capacity of 2 pigeons. Over 700 sessions, the pigeons were tested with an increasingly larger pool of pictorial stimuli in a two-alternative discrimination task (incremented in sets of 20 or 30 pictures). Each picture was randomly assigned to either a right or a left choice response, forcing the pigeons to memorize each picture and its associated response. At the end of testing, 1 pigeon was performing at 73% accuracy with a memory set of over 1,800 pictures, and the 2nd was at 76% accuracy with a memory set of over 1,600 pictures. Adjusted for guessing, models of the birds’ performance suggested that the birds had access, on average, to approximately 830 memorized picture—response associations and that these were retained for months at a time. Reaction time analyses suggested that access to these memories was parallel in nature. Over the last 6 months of testing, this capacity estimate was stable for both birds, despite their learning increasingly more items, suggesting some limit on the number of picture—response associations that could be discriminated and retained in the long-term memory portion of this task. This represents the first empirically established limit on long-term memory use for any vertebrate species. The existence of this large exemplar-specific memory capacity has important implications for the evolution of stimulus control and for current theories of avian and human cognition.     

Long-term memory for pictures and sentences

Two experiments were conducted to examine the fan effect in recognition memory for pictures and sentences. Subjects in the first experiment memorized sets of pictures (N= 13) or sentences (N=13) in which the study items comprised concept combinations (e.g., the clock is on the television) that could be unambiguously depicted in each modality. The fan effect, contrasting study items involving unique- and shared-concepts combinations, was observed in the recognition reaction time data for sentences but not for pictures. Subjects in the second experiment (N= 17) memorized sets of pictures and sentences in which, in addition to the unique and shared intramodality conditions used in Experiment 1, subjects memorized items in each modality that shared concepts with items in the alternative modality. Although the fan effect was reduced for sentences in the second experiment, the intramodality results were qualitatively comparable to those obtained in Experiment 1. The results in the intermodality conditions indicated that, although pictorial study items influenced reaction time to sentences with which they shared a concept, the reverse was not the case. The results were thought to be inconsistent with the view that pictures and sentences enjoy a common representational format in long-term memory.     

Conscious and unconscious discriminations between true and false memories

When subjects give higher confidence or memory ratings to a test word in a recognition test, do they simply raise their criterion without making better discrimination, or do they raise both criterion and true discrimination between the studied words (SW) and the lures? Given that previous studies found subjects’ false alarm responses to lures slower than to SW, and recognition latency inversely correlated with the confidence rating, can the latency difference between the lures and SW be accounted for by confidence or memory ratings? The present results showed that when subjects gave higher confidence or memory ratings, both their bias and sensitivity were raised, indicating that they could consciously distinguish the lures from the SW. However, a latency difference between true and false recognitions persisted after confidence and memory ratings were held constant, suggesting an unconscious source of discrimination between the two types of memory.