Biomedical subjects

Rachel A Diana

Publications and source records attributed to Rachel A Diana.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The low-frequency encoding disadvantage: Word frequency affects processing demands.

Low-frequency words produce more hits and fewer false alarms than high-frequency words in a recognition task. The low-frequency hit rate advantage has sometimes been attributed to processes that operate during the recognition test (e.g., L. M. Reder et al., 2000). When tasks other than recognition, such as recall, cued recall, or associative recognition, are used, the effects seem to contradict a low-frequency advantage in memory. Four experiments are presented to support the claim that in addition to the advantage of low-frequency words at retrieval, there is a low-frequency disadvantage during encoding. That is, low-frequency words require more processing resources to be encoded episodically than high-frequency words. Under encoding conditions in which processing resources are limited, low-frequency words show a larger decrement in recognition than high-frequency words. Also, studying items (pictures and words of varying frequencies) along with low-frequency words reduces performance for those stimuli.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Models of recognition: a review of arguments in favor of a dual-process account.

The majority of computationally specified models of recognition memory have been based on a single-process interpretation, claiming that familiarity is the only influence on recognition. There is increasing evidence that recognition is, in fact, based on two processes: recollection and familiarity. This article reviews the current state of the evidence for dual-process models, including the usefulness of the remember/know paradigm, and interprets the relevant results in terms of the source of activation confusion (SAC) model of memory. We argue that the evidence from each of the areas we discuss, when combined, presents a strong case that inclusion of a recollection process is necessary. Given this conclusion, we also argue that the dual-process claim that the recollection process is always available is, in fact, more parsimonious than the single-process claim that the recollection process is used only in certain paradigms. The value of a well-specified process model such as the SAC model is discussed with regard to other types of dual-process models.

Attention↗

PubMed2005

Identifying the ERP correlate of a recognition memory search attempt.

Previous recognition memory studies have looked for differences in brain activity during recollection- and familiarity-based responding. Although an ERP component correlated with recollection success has been reported, no analogous component related to search initiation has been found. We argue that such a component has not been discovered because studies have compared trials in which participants have made a search attempt and failed (such as Know responses) with those in which the search attempt is successful (such as Remember responses). In the current study, we compared a task that required judgments of lifetime familiarity (differentiating famous from nonfamous names) with one that required judgments of episodic information (deciding whether a name was seen previously in the experiment). By comparing a task on which familiarity judgments were made with no search attempt to a second task in which a search attempt was likely to occur, we identified a component that may reflect the initiation of a memory search. This effect, maximal between 190 and 235 ms, is correlated with Old judgments in the episodic task. Previous ERP findings (e.g., FN400, parietal old/new effect) were also replicated in the present study.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

The list strength effect: a contextual competition account.

Research on the list strength effect (LSE) has shown that learning some words on a list more strongly than others impairs memory for the weakly learned words when tested with a recall task. Norman (2002) demonstrated that the LSE also occurs within the recollection process of a recognition test. In this study, a mechanistic dual-process account of the LSE was tested that simultaneously makes predictions concerning additional sources of context in interference effects. In two experiments, we attempted to replicate Norman's (2002) findings and provide the basis for our modeling efforts. We found evidence for a recollection LSE in raw measures of responding, with memory performance also benefiting from reinstatement of perceptual characteristics at test. However, large differences in the hits between the lists were accompanied by small differences in false alarms, such that when d' is calculated, differences between the lists are not significant. We propose an account of the LSE whereby the actual effect of competition between items on the list is small, although present, and difficult to distinguish from large effects of bias due to the strength manipulations. We argue that our findings provide support for a mechanistic explanation of LSE that is based on competition of source activation and changes in the thresholds for responses.

Attention↗

PubMed2004

The role of spurious feature familiarity in recognition memory.

In two experiments, we investigated the role of perceptual information in spurious recognition judgments. Participants viewed lists of words in various unusual fonts. The frequency with which each font was presented was manipulated at study: Each font was presented with 1 or 12 different words in Experiment 1 and with 1 or 20 words in Experiment 2. Although the participants were instructed in a word recognition test to judge only on the basis of the word, regardless of font, there were significantly more false alarms for new words seen in a previously presented font than for new words presented in a novel (not seen at study) font in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, the participants were significantly more likely to make a false alarm to a new word seen in a font that had been used to present 20 words during study than to a font that had been used to present only 1 word during study. The data show a mirror effect, in which words tested in low-frequency fonts produced more hits and fewer false alarms than did words tested in high-frequency fonts. These results show that irrelevant perceptual information plays a role in recognition judgments by providing spurious sources of familiarity and, thus, provide evidence that perceptual information is represented and processed in the same way as semantic information.

Humans↗