Familiarity and novelty preferences in infant recognition memory: Implications for information processing.

Investigated the suggestion that young infants show a preference for familiar stimuli that is supplanted by a preference for novel stimuli as they get older and the act of recognition becomes commonplace. In Study 1, 84 Ss (3.5, 4.5, and 6.5 mo old) were tested for visual recognition memory of shapes, using the paired comparison procedure. The 3.5-mo-olds showed a strong preference for the familiar, whereas the older Ss preferred the novel stimulus. In Study 2 with 72 3.5- and 6.5-mo-old Ss, these shifts were found to depend more on familiarization time than on age. Ss of both ages showed a preference for the familiar stimulus after limited exposure to it but shifted to a preference for the novel stimulus after more extended exposure. It is concluded that regardless of age, infants prefer to look at that which is familiar as they begin to process a stimulus; once processing becomes more advanced, their preference shifts to the novel. Findings are therefore contrary to the developmental view investigated. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual automaticity in recognition memory: Levels-of-processing effects on familiarity.

Examined the effect of level of processing (LP) on recognition memory using 2 response-signal delays (RSD; 500 and 1500 msec). In Exp 1, LP (semantic or nonsemantic) and RSD were manipulated between 24 college students. In Exp 2, orienting task (pleasantness rating or letter judgment) and RSD were manipulated among 32 Ss. In Exp 3, study orientation and test instructions (inclusion or exclusion) were within-S factors, and RSD was a between-S factor. 32 Ss were included in Exp 3. In Exp 1, a modality effect was found for fast responses. The LP was reliable at both points in time. In Exp 2, fast responses were associated with significantly more "false-alarms" to words encoded semantically than those encoded nonsemantically. In Exp 3, both recollection and familiarity estimates were elevated by prior conceptual processing. Estimates of recollection were affected by RSD. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MONTY: a Monte Carlo approach to protein-DNA recognition

A Monte Carlo method is described for automated docking of proteins on DNA. The simulation program MONTY keeps the entire DNA and the protein backbone and core fixed while protein surface side-chains are allowed to rotate freely. The entire protein is rotated and translated by small random steps in order to find the best fit with the DNA. New configurations are accepted on basis of their Boltzmann probability. Protein-DNA interaction is represented by square well potentials for hydrogen bond and van der Waals interactions. The structure with the largest interaction energy encountered during the simulation is saved. The method is tested on complexes of the 434 Cro protein and its operator DNA where the protein is shifted up or down one or two base-pairs and is subsequently allowed to find back its native binding site. This protocol is performed for shifted complexes derived from the crystal structure, shifted complexes where the crystal structure DNA is replaced by standard B-DNA and shifted complexes where in addition the protein is replaced by protein from the uncomplexed crystal structure. In all three cases the six lowest energy structures correspond to complexes close to the native complex. The quality of sequence specific recognition diminishes, however, when the molecular surface complementarity between protein and DNA decreases.     

Serial position effects in recognition memory for odors.

Five experiments examined recognition memory for sequentially presented odors. Participants were presented with a sequence of odors and then had to identify an odor from the list in a test probe containing 2 odors. All experiments demonstrated enhanced recognition of odors presented at the start and end of a series, compared with those presented in the middle of the series when a 3-s retention interval between list termination and test was used. In Experiments 2 and 3, when a 30-s or 60-s retention interval was used, participants performed at slightly lower levels, although the serial position function was similar to that obtained with the 3-s retention interval. These results were noted with a 5-item (Experiments 1 and 4), 7-item (Experiment 2), 6-item (Experiment 3), and 4-item (Experiment 5) list of odors. As the number of test trials increased, recognition performance decreased, indicating a strong role for olfactory fatigue or interference in these procedures. A verbal suppression task, used in Experiments 4 and 5, had little influence on serial-position-based performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual effects on remembering: Recollective processes in picture recognition memory.

In 3 experiments, the effects of perceptual manipulations on recollective experience were tested. In Experiment 1, a picture-superiority effect was obtained for overall recognition and Remember judgments in a picture recognition task. In Experiment 2, size changes of pictorial stimuli across study and test reduced recognition memory and Remember judgments. In Experiment 3, deleterious effects of changes in left–right orientation of pictorial stimuli across study and test were obtained for Remember judgments. An alternate framework that emphasizes a distinctiveness–fluency processing distinction is proposed to account for these findings because they cannot easily be accommodated within the existing account of differences in conceptual and perceptual processing for the 2 categories of recollective experience: Remembering and Knowing, respectively (J. M. Gardiner, 1988; S. Rajaram, 1993). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

ANOVA designs with subjects and stimuli as random effects: Applications to prototype effects on recognition memory.

To establish the generality of experimental effects, analysis of variance (ANOVA) designs should often treat both subjects and stimuli as random effects, but researchers seem to avoid such designs. By replicating Cantor and Mischel's (1977) study of person prototype effects on recognition memory, we demonstrate how apparently significant effects can become nonsignificant when more appropriate tests, in which recognition words are assumed to represent a random effect, are calculated. Nevertheless, uncritical use of analyses assuming random effects can also be misleading, often erring by being too conservative. We discuss the controversy over the consequences of assuming stimuli represent a random or a fixed effect and of using quasi F ratios. We recommend that researchers increase the number of stimuli to increase the generalizability of results and power and to explore substantive stimulus effects themselves. To facilitate use of ANOVA designs that incorporate two random effects, we discuss several design options and some advantages and disadvantages of each. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the difference between strength-based and frequency-based mirror effects in recognition memory

According to the standard signal-detection model of recognition memory, confidence judgments for recognition responses are reached in much the same way that old-new decisions are reached (i.e., on the basis of criteria situated along the strength-of-evidence axis). The question investigated here is how the confidence criteria shift when recognition accuracy is manipulated across conditions. Although several theories assume that the old-new decision criterion shifts when recognition accuracy changes, less is known about how the confidence criteria move. An analysis of data previously reported by R. Ratcliff, G. McKoon, and M. Tindall (1994) and some new data reported here suggest that the confidence criteria fan out on the decision axis as d' decreases. This result is qualitatively consistent with the predictions of a likelihood ratio model, although the data did not support the stronger quantitative predictions of this account.     

For a "neurocognitive" approach to memory: value of neuropsychology

Cognitive models suggest that memory consists of potentially independent modules. In addition, clinical data lead to a reference to the central systems that interact with these operative modules, and which assign significance and pertinence to the information being processed. Such an organization fits better with clinical data, since it can be demonstrated with the example of episodic or procedural memories as both require the activation of strategic processes, under the control of the prefrontal cortex, needed for the organization or the control of the information to be processed.     

Judgments of frequency and recognition memory in a multiple-trace memory model.

The multiple-trace simulation model, {minerva} 2, was applied to a number of phenomena found in experiments on relative and absolute judgments of frequency, and forced-choice and yes–no recognition memory. How the basic model deals with effects of repetition, forgetting, list length, orientation task, selective retrieval, and similarity and how a slightly modified version accounts for effects of contextual variability on frequency judgments were shown. Two new experiments on similarity and recognition memory were presented, together with appropriate simulations; attempts to modify the model to deal with additional phenomena were also described. Questions related to the representation of frequency are addressed, and the model is evaluated and compared with related models of frequency judgments and recognition memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual interactions in two-word displays: Familiarity and similarity effects.

Previous studies have demonstrated the existence of perceptual interactions in the processing of 2-word displays such as SAND LANE. Four experiments were conducted with 99 undergraduates to study the role of familiarity and similarity of the stimuli on these interactions. Exp I examined whether migration errors, and the effect of surround similarity on these errors depend on the fact that the migrating letters fit together with the surround in which they occur to form familiar higher order units. Exp II replicated the results of Exp I using a slightly different paradigm. Exp III examined the role of lexicality, independent of orthographic regularity, by comparing word stimuli to orthographically regular nonword stimuli, and Exp IV examined the role of physical, as opposed to abstract, similarity of the stimuli. Overall findings indicate that when postcued to report 1 of the 2 words, Ss often made migration errors, in that the report of the specified word included a letter of the other word (e.g., LAND or SANE instead of SAND). Migrations depended on the abstract, structural similarity of the strings, but not on the physical similarity; on whether the strings were words; and on whether the possible migration responses were words. Results reveal that migration errors could not be attributed to a guessing strategy. Findings are interpreted in terms of models in which both strings simultaneously access high-level structural knowledge about what sequences of letters fit together to form familiar wholes. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of sleep loss on short-term recognition memory.

Compared the performance of 20 sleep-deprived undergraduates on a probe-recognition memory task with that of 20 nondeprived controls over periods up to 55 hrs. Recognition was either immediate or delayed by 20 sec. Results show that the sleep-deprived group made significantly more errors in the perception of the material, and under the delay condition retained less adequately those items correctly perceived. It is argued that these findings are consistent with the notion that sleep loss causes a deficit in attention, leading to misperception and a failure to rehearse adequately material presented for memorization. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feeding-based arousal effects on visual recognition memory in early infancy.

Arousal effects on a 1-trial visual recognition paired-comparison task were studied at newborn, 1-month, and 4-month test ages. Infants were tested before and after feeding, with arousal assumed to be lower after feeding. Newborns and 1-month-olds shifted from a familiarity preference before feeding to a novelty preference after feeding. A control group tested only after feeding confirmed that this shift was not due to increased stimulus exposure from the prefeeding test. By 4 months, infants showed novelty preferences independent of feeding. This age by arousal interaction for recognition memory extends previous knowledge by including endogenous arousal with age, stimulus, and length of exposure as contributors to familiarity–novelty preferences. It also extends and provides converging evidence for arousal effects on visual attention in early infancy found previously with preferential looking. A shift from subcortical to cortical dominance is supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of neurotoxic lesions of the perirhinal cortex combined to fornix transection on object recognition memory in the rat

The effects of lesions centred in the perirhinal cortex region (Prh) or in both the perirhinal cortex region and the fornix (Prh + Fx) were assessed in two different working memory tasks, one spatial the other nonspatial. For the spatial task the rats were tested in an eight arm radial maze, using a standard procedure in which they were rewarded for avoiding previously visited arms. The Prh + Fx, but not the Prh, rats produced significantly more errors (re-entries) and these started significantly earlier in each session when compared with a surgical control group. The nonspatial task was a test of spontaneous object recognition in which rats were tested on their ability to discriminate between a familiar and a novel object. For the initial tests the Prh group failed to discriminate between the objects, but the Prh + Fx group showed a clear preference for the novel object. Observation of the test showed, however, that the Prh + Fx group were spending a greater length of time initially exploring the sample (familiar) object. When the amount of exposure to the sample object was limited to either 20 or 40 s (i.e. was the same for all three groups), the Prh + Fx group now failed to discriminate between the two objects. This change was especially evident for shorter sample duration (20 s). The Prh group did, however, show an amelioration of their deficit with this further testing. The present results support previous dissociation between spatial and nonspatial working memory, and indicate that there may be some recovery of function following perirhinal cortical damage.     

False recognition effects in young and older adults' memory for text passages

Recent work has demonstrated an age-related increase in susceptibility to illusory memories; specifically, older adults make more false recognition responses to unstudied items when such items are semantically related to studied items. The majority of studies have examined false recognition for semantically associated words; the current study extends that previous work by examining false recognition effects for schematized story actions. In two experiments young and older adults studied schematized stories and were later given a recognition test for studied and unstudied story actions. Our results indicate that both age groups produced robust false recognition effects, but older adults were not more susceptible to these effects. These results suggest there are limits to the range of circumstances that yield age differences in illusory memories.     

The contribution of recollection and familiarity to recognition memory: A study of the effects of test format and aging.

Whether the format of a recognition memory task influences the contribution of recollection and familiarity to performance is a matter of debate. The authors investigated this issue by comparing the performance of 64 young (mean age = 21.7 years; mean education = 14.5 years) and 62 older participants (mean age = 64.4 years; mean education = 14.2 years) on a yes-no and a forced-choice recognition task for unfamiliar faces using the remember-know-guess procedure. Familiarity contributed more to forced-choice than to yes-no performance. Moreover, older participants, who showed a decrease in recollection together with an increase in familiarity, performed better on the forced-choice task than on the yes-no task, whereas younger participants showed the opposite pattern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Receiver-operating characteristics in recognition memory: Evidence for a dual-process model.

Evidence is presented that recognition judgments are based on an assessment of familiarity, as is described by signal detection theory, but that a separate recollection process also contributes to performance. In 3 receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) experiments, the process dissociation procedure was used to examine the contribution of these processes to recognition memory. In Exps 1 and 2, reducing the length of the study list increased the intercept (d') but decreased the slope of the ROC and increased the probability of recollection but left familiarity relatively unaffected. In Exp 3, increasing study time increased the intercept but left the slope of the ROC unaffected and increased both recollection and familiarity. In all 3 experiments, judgments based on familiarity produced a symmetrical ROC (slope?=?1), but recollection introduced a skew such that the slope of the ROC decreased. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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 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. 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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational effects of early gonadal secretions on sexual differentiation in spatial memory.

Neonatally castrated (MNC) and control male rats (MC) and female rats treated neonatally with estradiol benzoate (FNE) and female controls (FC) were studied. In Exp 1 spatial memory was assessed using a 12-arm radial maze. During acquisition, MC and FNE groups were more accurate in choice behavior than FC and MNC groups. In Exp 2 the discriminative control exerted by different types of cues was evaluated. Alteration of the geometry of the room but not movable landmarks disrupted performance of MC and FNE groups. For the FC and MNC groups, alteration of either geometry or landmarks did not disrupt performance. In Exp 3 the effect of a 15-min delay was determined. MC and FNE groups were more disrupted by a delay than MNC and FC groups. Together, these data suggest that early exposure to gonadal steroids (probably estradiol) improves acquisition of spatial tasks by reorganizing and simplifying associational-perceptual processes that guide spatial ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)