Serial-position effects for lures in short-term recognition memory.

Serial-position curves for targets in short-term recognition memory show modest primacy and marked recency. To construct serial-position curves for lures, we tested orthographic neighbours of study words and assigned each lure to the position of its studied neighbour. The curve for lures was parallel to that for targets. In Experiment 2, only half the lures were neighbours of study words; the other half overlapped a study word by a single letter. The serial-position curve for neighbours of study items was now flatter than the curve for targets. The results are inconsistent with theories in which any factor that benefits targets must hinder lures. Instead, they demand a decision mechanism that assigns a role to item-specific information, as well as to general familiarity information, such as dual-process theory.

Test sequence priming in recognition memory.

The authors examined priming within the test sequence in 3 recognition memory experiments. A probe primed its successor whenever both probes shared a feature with the same studied item (interjacent priming), indicating that the study item like the probe is central to the decision. Interjacent priming occurred even when the 2 probes did not themselves share any features: A lure that shared a single feature with a study item primed a lure that shared a different feature with the same study item. The experiments distinguished interjacent priming from other types of facilitation. Interjacent priming indicates that a study item that is like the probe is more relevant to the decision than other study items, contrary to global memory models. It also shows that negative decisions depend on contradiction, not insufficient familiarity, because lures, as well as targets, benefited. The data are discussed in terms of a recall check within a dual-process theory, but the authors prefer a single-process resonance model with separate decision mechanisms for yes and no responses (D. J. K. Mewhort & E. E. Johns, 2005).