A series of four experiments tested the assumptions of the most prominent and longstanding account of item-method directed forgetting: the selective rehearsal account. In the item-method directed forgetting paradigm, each presented item is followed by its own instructional cue during the study phase - either to-be-forgotten (F) or to-be-remembered (R). On a subsequent test, memory is poorer for F items than for R items. To clarify the mechanism underlying memory performance, we manipulated the time available for rehearsal, examining instructional cue durations of 1 s, 5 s, and 10 s. Experiments 1a and 1b, where the order of cue durations was randomized, showed no effect of cue duration on item recognition of unrelated single words, for either R or F items. Experiment 2, using unrelated word pairs, again showed no effect of randomized cue duration, this time on associative recognition. Experiments 3 and 4 blocked cue duration and showed equivalent increases in recognition of both R and F single words and word pairs with increasing cue duration. We suggest that any post-cue rehearsal is carried out only when cue duration is predictable, and that such limited rehearsal is equally likely for F items and R items. The consistently better memory for R items than for F items across cue duration depends on selective retrieval involving (1) a rapid retrieval check engaged for R items only and (2) a rapid removal process implemented for F items only.

The current study examined whether the benefit of mixed-list production could extend to memory for background contexts using word-background context pairs. Participants studied words presented on background images; words were read aloud or silently. In Experiment 1a, half of the studied items were tested on their studied background image and half were tested on a new image using old-new recognition. Although a production effect in word recognition was observed, context reinstatement had no effect on sensitivity and only a marginal effect on hit rates; it did not interact with production. In Experiment 1b, whether participants encoded the backgrounds and whether that encoding was affected by production was tested using separate recognition tests. A production effect was found in word recognition, but there was no effect in image recognition. Experiment 2 used a cued-recall test, with the studied background images as the cues to directly test whether associations were formed between words and backgrounds at study. A production effect was found but did not interact with the presence of cues during recall. Both the benefit of production and the benefit of context reinstatement appear to be independent of one another, with production not aiding memory for the associations between items nor the context.

Researchers have proposed a coarser or gist-based representation for sounds, whereas a more verbatim-based representation is retrieved from long-term memory to account for higher recognition performance for pictures. This study examined the mechanism for the recognition advantage for pictures. In Experiment 1A, pictures and sounds were presented in separate trials in a mixed list during the study phase and participants showed in a yes-no test, a higher proportion of correct responses for targets, exemplar foils categorically related to the target, and novel foils for pictures compared with sounds. In Experiment 1B, the picture recognition advantage was replicated in a two-alternative forced-choice test for the novel and exemplar foil conditions. For Experiment 2A, even when verbal labels (i.e., written labels) were presented for sounds during the study phase, a recognition advantage for pictures was shown for both targets and exemplar foils. Experiment 2B showed that the presence of written labels for sounds, during both the study and test phases did not eliminate the advantage of recognition of pictures in terms of correct rejection of exemplar foils. Finally, in two additional experiments, we examined whether the degree of similarity within pictures and sounds could account for the recognition advantage of pictures. The mean similarity rating for pictures was higher than the mean similarity rating for sounds in the exemplar test condition, whereas mean similarity rating for sounds was higher than pictures in the novel test condition. These results pose a challenge for some versions of distinctiveness accounts of the picture superiority effect. We propose a conceptual-perceptual distinctiveness processing account of recognition memory for pictures and sounds.

In recognition, context effects often manifest as higher hit and false-alarm rates to probes tested in an old context compared with probes tested in a new context; sometimes, this concordant effect is accompanied by a discrimination advantage. According to the cue-overload account of context effects (Rutherford, 2004), context acts like any other cue, and thus context effects should be larger with lighter context loads. Conversely, the Item, Associated Context, and Ensemble (ICE) account (Murnane et al., 1999) attributes context effects to two factors: subjects erroneously attributing context familiarity to the probe, and the formation of ensembles (mnemonic combinations of item and context). Context familiarity increases as exposure at study increases, and thus ICE predicts larger effects of context as context load increases. Relatedly, ICE predicts larger effects of context as context meaningfulness increases, as meaningful contexts are more likely to be bound to the target in an ensemble. In Experiments 1 and 2, rather than manipulate context load during the study phase, we relied on subjects' preexperimental context exposure to manipulate context load. Subjects studied words superimposed on photographs of their university campus or another university campus. At test, targets and distractors were evenly divided between study and novel contexts and between familiar and unfamiliar contexts. In Experiment 3, we manipulated context familiarity within the experimental session. Results supported ICE, suggesting that context does not act as a retrieval cue in recognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

In an attempt to better understand recognition memory we look at how three approaches (dual processing, signal detection, and global matching) have addressed the probe, the returned signal and the decision in four recognition paradigms. These are single-item recognition (including the remember/know paradigm), recognition in relational context, associative recognition, and source monitoring. The contrast, with regards to the double-miss rate (the probability of recognizing neither item in intact and rearranged pairs) and the effect of the oldness of the other member of the test pair, between identifying the old words in test pairs (the relational context paradigm) and first identifying the intact test pairs and then identifying the old words (adding associative recognition to the relational context paradigm) suggests that the retrieval of associative information in the relational context paradigm is unintentional, unlike the retrieval of associative information in associative recognition. It also seems possible that the information that is spontaneously retrieved in single-item recognition, possibly including the remember/know paradigm, is also unintentional, unlike the retrieval of information in source monitoring. Probable differences between intentional and unintentional retrieval, together with the pattern of effects with regards to the double-miss rate and the effect of the other member of the test pair, are used to evaluate the three approaches. Our conclusion is that all three approaches have something valid to say about recognition, but none is equally applicable across all four paradigms.

In the item-method directed forgetting (DF) paradigm, participants study one item at a time, each followed by an instruction to remember (R) or to forget (F) that item. Previous studies have suggested that intentional forgetting occurs by terminating further rehearsal of F items, thus reducing their encoding into the long-term store. We tested the prediction that preventing rehearsal using another resource-demanding task should mimic the DF effect. In Experiments 1a and 1b, we compared a typical DF condition to a condition in which participants performed an alphanumeric equation distraction task to prevent rehearsal. Experiment 1a revealed that an intent to forget reduced memory more than did interfering with rehearsal using this distractor task. In Experiment 1b, we equated rehearsal strategies between conditions and found that preventing rehearsal by an F cue or by a distractor task produced equivalent results. In Experiment 2, implementing a distractor task during R cue presentation reduced memory but did not do so during F cue presentation. We suggest that two critical mechanisms are at play during encoding in intentional forgetting: the selective enhancement of R items by rehearsal and the selective removal of F items.

Murdock (1974, Human Memory: Theory and Data, Lawrence Erlbaum) distinguished between the encoding and retrieval of item information (the representation of individual events) and associative information (the representation of relations between separate events). Mandler (1980, Psychological Review, 87, 252-271) proposed that recognition decisions could be based on the sense of familiarity engendered by the stimulus or on the retrieval of conceptual, semantic, and contextual information about the target. These two distinctions have motivated a considerable amount of research over the past 40 years and have provided much of the bases for our current understanding of recognition memory. Selective aspects of this research are reviewed to show how theories of recognition memory have developed to embody these two dichotomies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

We tested the assumptions of a prominent and longstanding account of item-method directed forgetting: the selective rehearsal account. We manipulated the time available for rehearsal, to clarify the mechanisms underlying memory performance during an intent to remember versus forget. In the item-method directed forgetting paradigm, each presented item receives its own instructional cue during the study phase—either to-be-forgotten (F) or to-be-remembered (R). The typical finding during the test phase is that memory is poorer for F items than for R items. Four experiments investigated the influence of instructional cue durations of 1, 5, and 10 seconds. Experiments 1a and 1b, with the order of cue durations randomized, showed no effect of cue duration on recognition of either R or F single words. Experiment 2, using unrelated word pairs, we again showed no effect of cue duration on associative recognition. Experiments 3 and 4 blocked cue duration and showed equivalently an increase in the recognition of both R and F single words and word pairs with increasing cue duration. We suggest that the consistently better memory for R items than for F items across cue duration depends on (1) a rapid retrieval check engaged for R items only and (2) a rapid removal process implemented for F items only. Additionally, any post-cue rehearsal is carried out only when cue duration is predictable, and is equally likely for F items and R items.

The mirror effect is the finding that in recognition tests, a manipulation that increases the hit rate also decreases the false alarm rate. For example, low frequency words have a higher hit rate and a lower false alarm rate than high frequency words. Because the mirror effect is held to be a regularity of memory, it has had a pronounced influence on theories of recognition. We took advantage of the recent increase in the number of linguistic databases to create sets of stimuli that differed on one dimension (contextual diversity, frequency, or concreteness) but were more fully equated on other dimensions known to affect memory. Experiment 1 (contextual diversity), Experiment 3 (frequency), and Experiment 5 (concreteness) found no evidence of a mirror effect. We also conducted parallel experiments which used previously published stimuli that could not avail of the new databases and which therefore contained confounds. Experiment 2 (contextual diversity), Experiment 4 (frequency), and Experiment 6 (concreteness) all resulted in mirror effects. If this pattern of results is replicable, it has broad implications for theories of recognition, which typically view the mirror effect as a benchmark finding. Unfortunately, few articles on the mirror effect include the stimuli, rendering the past literature of little use in testing this hypothesis. We encourage researchers to create and assess other pools of highly controlled stimuli to establish whether the stimulus-based mirror effect obtains when confounds are eliminated or whether it is due to the presence of these confounds. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Presenting items multiple times on a study list increases their memorability, a process known as item strengthening. The list-strength effect (LSE) refers to the finding that, compared to unstrengthened (pure) lists, lists for which a subset of the items have been strengthened produce enhanced memory for the strengthened items and depressed memory for the unstrengthened items. Although the LSE is found in free recall (Tulving & Hastie, 1972), it does not occur in recognition (Ratcliff et al., 1990). In free recall, the LSE in mixed lists is attributed to a sampling bias promoting priority recall of strong items and consequent output interference affecting weak items. We suggest that, in recognition, the disruption of this pattern through the randomization of test probes is responsible for the null LSE. We present several pilot experiments consistent with this account; however, the registered experiment, which had more statistical power, did not support this account.

Despite the substantial evidence highlighting the role of selective rehearsal in item-method directed forgetting, recent work has suggested that forgetting may occur as a function of an active inhibitory mechanism that is more effortful than elaborative rehearsal processes. In the present work, we test this hypothesis by implementing a double-item presentation within the item-method directed forgetting paradigm. Participants studied two unrelated items at a time. Some words were followed by the same cue, and participants were instructed to remember or forget both items (pure condition). On other trials, participants were to remember one but forget the other word (mixed condition). Selective rehearsal and inhibition accounts make distinct predictions regarding memory performance in the double-item presentation. In Experiment 1, we compared recognition performance in the pure and mixed conditions, while in Experiment 2, we included a neutral baseline condition to further distinguish between the selective rehearsal and inhibition accounts. Contrary to the inhibition account but consistent with selective rehearsal, we found for both remember and forget items that recognition was greater in the mixed than in the pure condition. Recognition for forget items also did not differ from neutral items. We conclude that selective rehearsal, not inhibition, is responsible for item-method directed forgetting.

The effect of item-based directed forgetting (DF) on recognition memory for categorized word lists was examined. For half of the categories, all studied exemplars were followed by a remember cue; for the other half of the categories, all studied exemplars were followed by a forget cue. In Experiment 1, a 2-alternative forced-choice recognition test showed decreased recognition for to-be-forgotten items. This effect was seen both when the distractor was from the same category as the target requiring discrimination be based on memory for the specific studied exemplars (exemplar test condition) and when the distractor was from a novel category and discrimination could be based on memory for the studied categories (category test condition). In Experiment 2, a yes-no recognition test showed a DF effect not only in higher hit rates for remember-cued targets compared to forget-cued targets, but also in higher false alarm rates for new exemplars from remember-cued compared to forget-cued categories. The effects of intentional forgetting of categorized word lists are seen not only for the studied exemplars but also for the studied categories and the unstudied typical exemplars of these categories. These results pose a theoretical challenge for the attentional inhibition account of DF. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

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.

An ongoing debate in the memory literature concerns whether the list-length effect (better memory for short lists compared with long lists) exists in item recognition (Annis, Lenes, Westfall, Criss, & Malmberg, 2015; Dennis, Lee, & Kinnell, 2008). This debate was initiated when Dennis and Humphreys (2001) showed that, when confounds present in earlier list-length experiments were controlled, the list-length effect disappeared. The issue has yet to be settled. Interestingly, the same confounds present in recognition experiments exist in cued-recall experiments. Here, we implemented Dennis and Humphreys' (2001) methodological controls to test for the list-length effect in cued recall. In Experiment 1, we found a robust list-length effect when start-of-study items from the long list were tested. However, no list-length effect was found in Experiments 2 and 3 when end-of-study items from the long list were tested. These results are consistent with the view that cued recall is susceptible to retroactive interference but not proactive interference, a position supported by early interference work (e.g., Lindauer, 1968; Melton & von Lackum, 1941). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The picture-superiority effect (PSE) refers to the finding that, all else being equal, pictures are remembered better than words (Paivio & Csapo, 1973). Dual-coding theory (DCT; Paivio, 1991) is often used to explain the PSE. According to DCT, pictures are more likely to be encoded imaginally and verbally than words. In contrast, distinctiveness accounts attribute the PSE to pictures' greater distinctiveness compared to words. Some distinctiveness accounts emphasize physical distinctiveness (Mintzer & Snodgrass, 1999) white others emphasize conceptual distinctiveness (Hamilton & Geraci, 2006). We attempt to distinguish among these accounts by testing for an auditory analog of picture superiority. Although this phenomenon, termed the auditory PSE, occurs in free recall (Crutcher & Beer, 2011), we were unable to extend it to recognition across four experiments. We propose a new framework for understanding the PSE, wherein dual coding underpins the free-recall PSE, but conceptual distinctiveness underpins the recognition PSE.

Decay and interference are two leading proposals for the cause of forgetting from working and/or short-term memory, and mathematical models of both processes exist. In the present study, we apply a computational model to data from a simple short-term memory task and demonstrate that decay and interference can co-occur in the same experimental paradigm, and that neither decay nor interference alone can account for all cases of forgetting.

Everyday actions can be characterized by whether they are freely chosen or commanded by external stimuli, and whether they produce pleasant or unpleasant outcomes. To assess how these aspects of actions affect the sense of agency, we asked participants to perform freely selected or instructed key presses which could produce pleasant or unpleasant chords. We obtained estimates of the key press–chord intervals and ratings of the feeling of control (FoC) over the outcomes. Interval estimates were used to assess intentional binding—the perceived temporal attraction between actions and their outcomes. Results showed stronger binding and higher FoC ratings in the free compared to instructed condition. Additionally, FoC was stronger for pleasant compared to unpleasant outcomes, and for pleasant outcomes that were produced by freely selected compared to instructed actions. These results highlight the importance of free choice and outcome valence on the SoA. They also reveal how freedom of action selection and pleasantness of action-outcomes can interact to affect the FoC.

The effects of context on item-based directed forgetting were assessed. Study words were presented against different background pictures and were followed by a cue to remember (R) or forget (F) the target item. The effects of incidental and intentional encoding of context on recognition of the study words were examined in Experiments 1 and 2. Recognition memory for the picture contexts was assessed in Experiments 3a and 3b. Recognition was greater for R-cued compared to F-cued targets, demonstrating an effect of directed forgetting. In contrast, no directed forgetting effect was seen for the background pictures. An effect of context-dependent recognition was seen in Experiments 1 and 2, such that the hit rate and the false-alarm rate were greater for items tested in an old compared to a novel context. An effect of context-dependent discrimination was also observed in Experiment 2 as the hit rate was greater for targets shown in their same old study context compared to a different old context. The effects of context and directed forgetting did not interact. The results are consistent with Malmberg and Shiffrin's (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 322-336, 2005) "one-shot" context storage hypothesis that assumes that a fixed amount of context is stored in the first 1 to 2 s of the presentation of the study item. The effects of context are independent of item-based directed forgetting because context is encoded prior to the R or F cue, and the differential processing of target information that gives rise to the directed forgetting effect occurs after the cue.