Achievement motivation and memory: achievement goals differentially influence immediate and delayed remember-know recognition memory

Little research has been conducted on achievement motivation and memory and, more specifically, on achievement goals and memory. In the present research, the authors conducted two experiments designed to examine the influence of mastery-approach and performance-approach goals on immediate and delayed remember-know recognition memory. The experiments revealed differential effects for achievement goals over time: Performance-approach goals showed higher correct remember responding on an immediate recognition test, whereas mastery-approach goals showed higher correct remember responding on a delayed recognition test. Achievement goals had no influence on overall recognition memory and no consistent influence on know responding across experiments. These findings indicate that it is important to consider quality, not just quantity, in both motivation and memory, when studying relations between these constructs.     

Effects of pair collaboration and word-frequency in recognition memory: a study with the remember-know procedure

The present study investigated the effects of pair collaboration and word-frequency on recognition memory, using the "remember-know" procedure. The aim was to test the predictions of the information-exchange hypothesis (Clark, Hori, Putnam & Martin, 2000), which states that collaborative facilitation occurs when participants are able to share their recollective memories with other members of the group. Results showed that recognition performance was significantly better in the collaborative than in the individual condition, and better for low-frequency than for high-frequency words. The advantage of collaborating dyads was produced by an increase of correct hits, coupled with a significant reduction of false alarms. Furthermore, the analysis of the "remember" (R) and "know" (K) responses indicated that the effects of both pair collaboration and word-frequency were larger on recollection than on familiarity processes. It is concluded that, in a collaborative condition, arguments based on the retrieval of the contextual details associated with the target words are more effective than those based on familiarity in increasing the proportions of correct hits. In addition, it is proposed that collaboration may lead to a reduction of the probability to accept new items on the basis of familiarity (K) responses.     

The neural correlates of everyday recognition memory

We used a novel automatic camera, SenseCam, to create a recognition memory test for real-life events. Adapting a 'Remember/Know' paradigm, we asked healthy undergraduates, who wore SenseCam for 2 days, in their everyday environments, to classify images as strongly or weakly remembered, strongly or weakly familiar or novel, while brain activation was recorded with functional MRI. Overlapping, widely distributed sets of brain regions were activated by recollected and familiar stimuli. Within the medial temporal lobes, 'Remember' responses specifically elicited greater activity in the right anterior and posterior parahippocampal gyrus than 'Know' responses. 'New' responses activated anterior parahippocampal regions. A parametric analysis, across correctly recognised items, revealed increasing activation in the right hippocampus and posterior parahippocampal gyrus (pPHG). This may reflect modulation of these regions by the degree of recollection or, alternatively, by increasing memory strength. Strong recollection elicited greater activity in the left posterior hippocampus/pPHG than weak recollection indicating that this region is specifically modulated by the degree of recollection.     

Event-related potential correlates of interference effects on recognition memory

The question of interference (how new learning affects previously acquired knowledge and vice versa) is a central theoretical issue in episodic memory research, but very few human neuroimaging studies have addressed this question. Here, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to test the predictions of the complementary learning systems (CLS) model regarding how list strength manipulations (strengthening some, but not all, items on a study list) affect recognition memory. Our analysis focused on the FN400 old-new effect, a hypothesized ERP correlate of familiarity-based recognition, and the parietal old-new effect, a hypothesized ERP correlate of recollection-based recognition. As is predicted by the CLS model, increasing list strength selectively reduced the ERP correlate of recollection-based discrimination, leaving the ERP correlate of familiarity-based discrimination intact. In a second experiment, we obtained converging evidence for the CLS model’s predictions, using a remember/know test: Increasing list strength reduced recollection-based discrimination but did not reduce familiarity-based discrimination.     

A mechanistic account of the mirror effect for word frequency: a computational model of remember-know judgments in a continuous recognition paradigm

A theoretical account of the mirror effect for word frequency and of dissociations in the pattern of responding Remember vs. Know (R vs. K) for low- and high-frequency words was tested both empirically and computationally by comparing predicted with observed data theory in 3 experiments. The SAC (Source of Activation Confusion) theory of memory makes the novel prediction of more K responses for high- than for low-frequency words, for both old and new items. Two experiments used a continuous presentation and judgment paradigm that presented words up to 10 times. The computer simulation closely modeled the pattern of results, fitting new Know and Remember patterns of responding at each level of experimental presentation and for both levels of word frequency for each participant. Experiment 3 required list discrimination after each R response (Group 1) or after an R or K response (Group 2). List accuracy was better following R responses. All experiments were modeled using the same parameter values.     

Long-term perceptual specificity effects in recognition memory: the transformed pictures paradigm.

The effects of a study/test mismatch in the viewing mode of natural scenes on recognition memory performance were examined. At both encoding and retrieval, scenes were presented either by being divided into quarters that were displayed in a sequential cumulative fashion or by scrolling the images through the screen, thereby gradually revealing the content of the images. Half of the participants were tested immediately after encoding and the other half after 48 hours. For both the immediate and delayed retrieval conditions, better recognition memory was demonstrated when viewing modes matched across study and test than when they mismatched. Implications for current processing and multiple systems views of memory are discussed.     

Measuring the speed of the conscious components of recognition memory: remembering is faster than knowing

Three experiments investigated response times (RTs) for remember and know responses in recognition memory. RTs to remember responses were faster than RTs to know responses, regardless of whether the remember-know decision was preceded by an old/new decision (two-step procedure) or was made without a preceding old/new decision (one-step procedure). The finding of faster RTs for R responses was also found when remember-know decisions were made retrospectively. These findings are inconsistent with dual-process models of recognition memory, which predict that recollection is slower and more effortful than familiarity. Word frequency did not influence RTs, but remember responses were faster for words than for nonwords. We argue that the difference in RTs to remember and know responses reflects the time taken to make old/new decisions on the basis of the type of information activated at test.     

Electrophysiological correlates of encoding processes in a full-report visual working memory paradigm

Why are some visual stimuli remembered, whereas others are forgotten? A limitation of recognition paradigms is that they measure aggregate behavioral performance and/or neural responses to all stimuli presented in a visual working memory (VWM) array. To address this limitation, we paired an electroencephalography (EEG) frequency-tagging technique with two full-report VWM paradigms. This permitted the tracking of individual stimuli as well as the aggregate response. We recorded high-density EEG (256 channel) while participants viewed four shape stimuli, each flickering at a different frequency. At retrieval, participants either recalled the location of all stimuli in any order (simultaneous full report) or were cued to report the item in a particular location over multiple screen displays (sequential full report). The individual frequency tag amplitudes evoked for correctly recalled items were significantly larger than the amplitudes of subsequently forgotten stimuli, regardless of retrieval task. An induced-power analysis examined the aggregate neural correlates of VWM encoding as a function of items correctly recalled. We found increased induced power across a large number of electrodes in the theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands when more items were successfully recalled. This effect was more robust for sequential full report, suggesting that retrieval demands can influence encoding processes. These data are consistent with a model in which encoding-related resources are directed to a subset of items, rather than a model in which resources are allocated evenly across the array. These data extend previous work using recognition paradigms and stress the importance of encoding in determining later VWM retrieval success.     

A simplified conjoint recognition paradigm for the measurement of gist and verbatim memory

The distinction between verbatim and gist memory traces has furthered the understanding of numerous phenomena in various fields, such as false memory research, research on reasoning and decision making, and cognitive development. To measure verbatim and gist memory empirically, an experimental paradigm and multinomial measurement model has been proposed but rarely applied. In the present article, a simplified conjoint recognition paradigm and multinomial model is introduced and validated as a measurement tool for the separate assessment of verbatim and gist memory processes. A Bayesian metacognitive framework is applied to validate guessing processes. Extensions of the model toward incorporating the processes of phantom recollection and erroneous recollection rejection are discussed.     

A new look at recognition in the Brown-Peterson distractor paradigm: Toward the application of new methodology to unsolved problems of recognition memory

Data from a recognition version of the classic Brown-Peterson short-term memory paradigm was analyzed using a modified version of the conjoint recognition model (Brainerd, Reyna, & Mojardin, 1999), which assumes that recognition is based on either a verbatim comparison of the recognition probe and the target item or a gist comparison of the items. Separate groups of participants were instructed to judge whether the recognition probe was an item from the current trial (exclusion condition), a previous trial (prior-only condition), or either the current or the previous trial (inclusion condition). The concept of gist is commonly thought of as meaning based. Our interpretation of the results suggests that the concept of gist need also emphasize similarity of environmental context. In addition, the results show that priming the recognition probe affects a participant's decision bias but does not enhance or impair the memory traces on which the recognition judgments are based. An additional analysis using Batchelder and Riefer's (1990) source-monitoring model supports the observation that priming affects only decision bias.     

Modeling hippocampal and neocortical contributions to recognition memory: a complementary-learning-systems approach

The authors present a computational neural-network model of how the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe cortex (MTLC) contribute to recognition memory. The hippocampal component contributes by recalling studied details. The MTLC component cannot support recall, but one can extract a scalar familiarity signal from MTLC that tracks how well a test item matches studied items. The authors present simulations that establish key differences in the operating characteristics of the hippocampal-recall and MTLC-familiarity signals and identify several manipulations (e.g., target-lure similarity, interference) that differentially affect the 2 signals. They also use the model to address the stochastic relationship between recall and familiarity and the effects of partial versus complete hippocampal lesions on recognition.     

Recollection and familiarity in recognition memory: adult age differences and neuropsychological test correlates

Dual process theories account for age-related changes in memory by proposing that old age is associated with deficits in recollection together with invariance in familiarity. The authors evaluated this proposal in recognition by examining recollection and familiarity estimates in young and older adults across 3 process estimation methods: inclusion/exclusion, remember/know, and receiver operating characteristics (ROC). Consistent with a previous literature review (Light, Prull, LaVoie, & Healy, 2000), the authors found age invariance in familiarity when process estimates were derived from the inclusion/exclusion method, but the authors found age differences favoring the young when familiarity estimates were derived from the remember/know and ROC methods. Recollection estimates were lower for older adults in all 3 methods. Recollection and familiarity had variable relationships with frontal- and temporal-lobe measures of neuropsychological functioning in older adults, depending on which method was used to generate process estimates. These data suggest that although recollection deficits appear to be the rule in aging, not all estimates of familiarity show age invariance.     

Dissociating the neural correlates of item and context memory: an ERP study of face recognition.

We investigated the neural correlates of item and context retrieval using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants studied unfamiliar faces with happy or neutral expressions, and at test, they decided whether test faces were studied in the same or in a different expression, or were new. The parietal ERP effect, which is hypothesized to indirectly reflect medial-temporal lobe (MTL) function, was sensitive to item retrieval, whereas the frontal ERP effect, which is thought to reflect prefrontal cortex (PFC) function, was sensitive to context retrieval. Converging with lesion, functional neuroimaging (PET and fMRI), and ERP evidence, these results support the notion that item retrieval is primarily associated with MTL function whereas context retrieval is primarily associated by PFC function.     

The effects of initial testing on false recall and false recognition in the social contagion of memory paradigm

In three experiments, participants studied photographs of common household scenes. Following study, participants completed a category-cued recall test without feedback (Exps. 1 and 3), a category-cued recall test with feedback (Exp. 2), or a filler task (no-test condition). Participants then viewed recall tests from fictitious previous participants that contained erroneous items presented either one or four times, and then completed final recall and source recognition tests. The participants in all conditions reported incorrect items during final testing (a social contagion effect), and across experiments, initial testing had no impact on false recall of erroneous items. However, on the final source-monitoring recognition test, initial testing had a protective effect against false source recognition: Participants who were initially tested with and without feedback on category-cued initial tests attributed fewer incorrect items to the original event on the final source-monitoring recognition test than did participants who were not initially tested. These data demonstrate that initial testing may protect individuals’ memories from erroneous suggestions.     

Recognition and context memory for faces from own and other ethnic groups: A remember-know investigation

People are more accurate at recognizing faces from their own ethnic group than at recognizing faces from other ethnic groups. This other-ethnicity effect (OEE) in recognition may be produced by a deficit in recollective memory for other-ethnicity faces. In a single study, White and Black participants saw White and Black faces presented within several different visual contexts. The participants were then given an old/new recognition task. Old responses were followed by remember-know-guess judgments and context judgments. Own-ethnicity faces were recognized more accurately, were given more remember responses, and produced more accurate context judgments than did other-ethnicity faces. These results are discussed in a dual-process framework, and implications for eyewitness memory are considered.     

Context-dependent recognition memory: the ICE theory

A solution to the problem of context-dependent recognition memory is presented in terms of the item, associated context, and ensemble (ICE) theory. It is argued that different types of context effects depend on how context information is encoded at both learning and retrieval. Matching associated context in memory and a retrieval cue produces increases in both hit and false alarm rates and may not be accompanied by a change in discrimination. Integrating item and context information in an ensemble and matching ensemble information in memory and a retrieval cue produces context-dependent discrimination. Empirical support for these predictions is presented.     

The neural correlates of conscious experience: an experimental framework

Demonstrating that neural activity ‘represents’ physical properties of the world such as the orientation of a line in the receptive field of a nerve cell is a standard procedure in neuroscience. However, not all such neural activity will be associated with the mental representations that form the contents of consciousness. In some cases, such as when patients with blindsight correctly ‘guess’ the location of a stimulus, neural activity is associated with physical stimulation and with appropriate behaviour, but not with awareness. To identify the neural correlates of conscious experience we need to identify patterns of neural activity that are specifically associated with awareness. Experiments aimed at making such identifications require that subjects report some aspect of their conscious experience either verbally or through some pre-arranged non-verbal report while neural activity is measured. If there is some characteristic neural signature of consciousness, then this should be distinguishable from the kinds of neural activity associated with stimulation and/or behaviour in the absence of awareness. It remains to be seen whether the neural signature of consciousness relates to the location of the neural activity, the temporal properties of the neural activity or the form of the interaction between activity in different brain regions.     

Associative recognition and the list strength paradigm

When a subset of list items is strengthened, the discriminability of the nonstrengthened items is unaffected. This regularity has been dubbed the null list strength effect (LSE), and despite its many replications in item recognition, little research has investigated whether an LSE occurs in associative recognition. We conducted two experiments in which a set of pairs were studied once and a set of interference pairs were studied either once (pure-weak-list condition) or four times (mixed-list condition). Equivalent levels of performance for the nonstrengthened pairs were observed in both the pure-weak and mixed conditions using both yes–no and two-alternative forced choice testing. Additionally, equivalent false alarm rates were observed between rearranged pairs composed of weak and strong items. Both sets of results were found to be consistent with a matrix model that has no overlap among its item representations.     

Top-down constraint on recognition memory

Can recognition memory be constrained “at the front end,” such that people are more likely to retrieve information about studying a recognition-test probe from a specified target source than they are to retrieve such information about a probe from a nontarget source? We adapted a procedure developed by Jacoby, Shimizu, Daniels, and Rhodes (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 12:852–857, 2005) to address this question. Experiment 1 yielded evidence of source-constrained retrieval, but that pattern was not significant in Experiments 2, 3, and 4 (nor in several unpublished pilot experiments). In Experiment 5, in which items from the two studied sources were perceptibly different, a pattern consistent with front-end constraint of recognition emerged, but this constraint was likely exercised via visual attention rather than memory. Experiment 6 replicated both the absence of a significant constrained-retrieval pattern when the sources did not differ perceptibly (as in Exps. 2, 3 and 4) and the presence of that pattern when they did differ perceptibly (as in Exp. 5). Our results suggest that people can easily constrain recognition when items from the to-be-recognized source differ perceptibly from items from other sources (presumably via visual attention), but that it is difficult to constrain retrieval solely on the basis of source memory.     

The effect of testing procedure on remember-know judgments

Remember-know (R-K) judgments are commonly used to assess conscious recollection of the study episode during recognition. We varied whether participants judged items as R, K, or new (one-step) or first made an old-new judgment and then made the R-K judgment (two-step). The one-step group had a higher R hit rate and K false alarm rate than did the two-step group. In addition, the K responses of the one-step group did not reliably discriminate between old and new items. When a “guess” response category was available, both groups were able to discriminate old and new items using the K response; however, K responses remained more accurate in the two-step condition. R responses appeared to be relatively immune to the effects of testing procedure when the guess category was provided. This suggests that, under some conditions, the R label can reliably indicate a distinct form of recognition memory, suggesting that allowing participants to use a guess response may help them to confine their R-K judgments to confidently recognized items. When participants are not given the option of making a guess response, they may use the R-K distinction to indicate the trace strength of the memory.