Automatic hypermnesia and impaired recollection in schizophrenia.

Evidence from studies of nonmnemonic automatic cognitive processes provides reason to expect that schizophrenia is associated with exaggerated automatic memory (implicit memory), or automatic hypermnesia. Participants with schizophrenia (n?=?22) and control participants (n?=?26) were compared on word stem completion (WSC) and list discrimination (LD) tasks administered using the process dissociation procedure. Unadjusted, extended measurement model and dual-process signal-detection methods were used to estimate recollection and automatic memory indices. Schizophrenia was associated with automatic hypermnesia on the WSC task and impaired recollection on both tasks. Thought disorder was associated with even greater automatic hypermnesia. The absence of automatic hypermnesia on the LD task was interpreted with reference to the neuropsychological bases of context and content memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stochastic relations between conscious and automatic memory processes: an expansion of the process-dissociation procedure

This paper presents an extension of the process dissociation procedure with wordstem completion, allowing the measurement of the stochastic relation between conscious and automatic processes. The conditional probabilities of conscious remembering with and without automatic processes can be determined. The determination of these conditional probabilities succeeds due to the extension of the process dissociation procedure by an indirect wordstem completion test, without referring to the usual assumptions of the dissociation paradigm. For the evaluation of this extended process dissociation procedure a multinomial model is presented which allows the distinction between voluntary and involuntary conscious memory. The model is applied to a study by ourselves and to an experiment published by Toth, Reingold, and Jacoby (1994). The results show that the assumptions of stochastic independence or redundancy as well as exclusivity of conscious and automatic processes are often violated. Two conscious processes with different probabilities of occurrence are found; voluntary and involuntary conscious memory processes.     

Violations of the independence assumption in process dissociation.

L. L. Jacoby, J. P. Toth, and A. P. Yonelinas (1993) advocated a process-dissociation procedure for estimating the contributions to task performance of consciously controlled (R) versus automatic (A) memory processes. The procedure relies on the strong assumption that memory-guided performance attributable to R is stochastically independent of that attributable to A. Violations of this independence assumption can produce artifactual dissociations between estimates of R and A. Such artifactual dissociations were obtained in a series of word-stem completion experiments: R increased with presentation duration, whereas A, paradoxically, decreased. Direct evidence for nonindependence was obtained from correlations between R and A in each of the experiments. These results suggest that the independence assumption was violated, and other applications of process dissociation should not be taken at face value without a thorough evaluation of independence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health effects of occupational diseases diagnosed in Poland during the years 1990 and 1994]

Three experiments investigated assumptions of the process-dissociation procedure for separating consciously controlled and automatic influences of memory. Conditions that encouraged direct retrieval revealed process dissociations. Manipulating attention during study or manipulating study time affected recollection but left automatic influences of memory relatively invariant. However, paradoxical dissociations were found when conditions encouraged use of a generate-recognize strategy, violating assumptions underlying the estimation procedure. Use of subjective reports to gain estimates produced parallel results. Easily observed correlations are shown to be not useful for testing assumptions underlying the process-dissociation procedure. A multinomial model produced results that agree with those from the process-dissociation approach.     

Separating conscious and unconscious influences of memory: Measuring recollection.

How can conscious and unconscious influences of memory be measured? In this article, a process-dissociation procedure (L. L. Jacoby, 1991) was used to separate automatic (unconscious) and consciously controlled influences within a task. For recall cued with word stems, automatic influences of memory (1) remained invariant across manipulations of attention that substantially reduced conscious recollection and (2) were highly dependent on perceptual similarity from study to test. Comparisons with results obtained through an indirect test show the advantages of the process-dissociation procedure as a means of measuring unconscious influences. The measure of recollection derived from this procedure is superior to measures gained from classic test theory and signal-detection theory. The process-dissociation procedure combines assumptions from these 2 traditional approaches to measuring memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Invariance in automatic influences of memory: Toward a user's guide for the process-dissociation procedure.

Three experiments investigated assumptions of the process-dissociation procedure for separating consciously controlled and automatic influences of memory. Conditions that encouraged direct retrieval revealed process dissociations. Manipulating attention during study or manipulating study time affected recollection but left automatic influences of memory relatively invariant. However, paradoxical dissociations were found when conditions encouraged use of a generate-recognize strategy, violating assumptions underlying the estimation procedure. Use of subjective reports to gain estimates produced parallel results. Easily observed correlations are shown to be not useful for testing assumptions underlying the process-dissociation procedure. A multinomial model produced results that agree with those from the process-dissociation approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for a generate–recognize model of episodic influences on word-stem completion.

Application of the process-dissociation procedure has shown that conceptual encoding episodes do not lead to automatic influences of memory on purportedly data-driven indirect tests of memory. Using 2 variants of the process-dissociation procedure with the word-stem completion task, the procedure is shown to underestimate automatic influences of memory when prior encoding includes a conceptual component. The underestimation is attributed to an awareness of past occurrence that is particularly likely with conceptually encoded items. This effect occurs even in the absence of the signature of a generate-recognize strategy and suggests that prior conceptual encoding may contribute to automatic influences of memory in stem completion. A multinomial generate-recognize model is presented that fits these results and previous results typically taken as support for the assumption that controlled and automatic influences of memory are independent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociative effect of massed repetition on implicit and explicit measures of memory.

Ss saw or heard words presented once, or repeated 4 or 16 times in massed fashion, and then received an implicit or explicit memory test. Massed repetition did not increase priming on word fragment completion beyond that obtained from a single presentation but did enhance performance on various explicit tests (free recall, recognition, question cued recall, and word fragment cued recall) and an implicit general knowledge test. Modality of presentation affected implicit and explicit word fragment cued tests but did not affect performance on any of the other tests. Levels of processing affected performance on implicit and explicit question cued tests. These results are consistent with a transfer appropriate processing account of dissociations among memory measures and imply that massed repetition promotes conceptual processing but does not entail a repetition of perceptual-based processes responsible for priming on word fragment completion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Process dissociation, cognitive architecture, and response time: Comments on Lindsay and Jacoby (1994).

Process dissociation is based on 2 assumptions about the processes being dissociated: invariance of the processes across situations, and stochastic independence of the processes. In a recent application of process dissociation to the Stroop task (D. S. Lindsay & L. L. Jacoby; see record 1994-28287-001), both of those assumptions were violated. It is argued that these violations were due to (a) an oversimplification of the processing architecture that ignores common stages such as guessing and response selection, (b) an assumption that the more automatic process (word reading) dominates over the intended process (color naming) in determining responses, and (c) an assumption that switching from the more common speeded response instruction (measuring speed) to a deadline response instruction (measuring accuracy) does not change processing. General implications for applying process dissociation to dynamic tasks are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separating habit and recollection: Memory slips, process dissociations, and probability matching.

Memory slips are errors in performance that result when an automatic basis for responding (e.g., habit) opposes the intention to perform a specific behavior. Prior research has focused on factors that influence the probability of a memory slip while neglecting factors that facilitate performance. Using L. L. Jacoby's (1991) process-dissociation procedure to examine performance in both a memory-slip and a facilitation condition, the authors separated the contribution of habit and recollection (intentional memory) in a cued-recall task. The authors found that manipulating the strength of habit affected its contribution to performance in a manner that produced probability matching, but recollection was unchanged. In contrast, manipulations of presentation rate and response time influenced recollection but did not affect habit. Such dissociations support a model of memory in which automatic and intentional influences make independent contributions to performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring the bases of recognition memory: An investigation of the process-dissociation framework.

The process-dissociation (PD) model quantitatively measures 2 purported bases of recognition memory: intentional recollection and automatic familiarity. As an alternative, the authors present the diagnostic context (DC) model, which differentiates between recollection that is diagnostic of list source versus that which is nondiagnostic. The DC model implies that the PD parameter of recollection measures only diagnostic recollection, whereas the PD parameter of familiarity is inappropriately affected by aspects of nondiagnostic recollection. In the authors' experiment, increasing list similarity decreased estimates of recollection as measured by the PD model, increased estimates of familiarity as measured by the PD model, and decreased estimates of diagnosticity as measured by the DC model. In addition, the effects of both levels of processing and attention depended on study list similarity. The DC model more readily accounts for the results than does the PD model. The results suggest that the PD model may not render pure measures of recollection or familiarity when applied to the 2-source recognition memory paradigm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some problems with the process-dissociation approach to memory.

The process-dissociation framework (L. L. Jacoby, see record 1992-07943-001) is a technique for deriving estimates of controlled (e.g., recollection) and automatic (e.g., familiarity) memory processes. The authors examined 3 assumptions of this framework. In Experiment 1, estimates of familiarity were affected by varying the proportion of old targets to old nontargets on the inclusion and exclusion tests and whether or not the tests were completed with full or divided attention, violating the assumption that familiarity's influence is automatic. In Experiment 2, the similarity of old targets and old nontargets was manipulated to show that source confusions (i.e., misrecollections) violate the assumption that the process of recollection is all-or-none. Source confusions also create an imbalance in the influence of recollection on the inclusion and exclusion tests, violating the consistency assumption. The source-monitoring framework is consistent with the present findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol effects on intentional behavior: Dissociating controlled and automatic influences.

This research examined the effect of alcohol on intentional behavior using a process dissociation procedure to separate the influences of conscious controlled processes from those of unconscious automatic processes. In 2 identical experiments, 24 male social drinkers studied a list of words before they received either 0.56 g/kg alcohol, an alcohol placebo, or soda. Participants then performed a word stem completion test that provided estimates of controlled influences and of automatic influences on their responses. The results of the 2 experiments were consistent. Comparisons among the treatments showed that alcohol reduced conscious controlled processes and left automatic processes unchanged. The findings contribute to understanding how the drug may reduce cognitive control of intentional behavior and raise important questions concerning personal and environmental factors that might mediate these effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What you get out of memory depends on the question you ask.

Following study, participants received 2 tests. The 1st was a recognition test; the 2nd was designed to tap recollection. The objective was to examine performance on Test 1 conditional on Test 2 performance. In Experiment 1, contrary to process dissociation assumptions, exclusion errors better predicted subsequent recollection than did inclusion errors. In Experiments 2 and 3, with alternate questions posed on Test 2, words having high estimates of recollection with one question had high estimates of familiarity with the other question. Results supported the following: (a) the 2-test procedure has considerable potential for elucidating the relationship between recollection and familiarity; (b) there is substantial evidence for dependency between such processes when estimates are obtained using the process dissociation and remember-know procedures; and (c) order of information access appears to depend on the question posed to the memory system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of divided attention and time course on automatic and controlled components of memory in older adults.

The relation between attention available at encoding and automatic and consciously controlled aspects of memory was investigated within a single task using the process-dissociation procedure (L. L. Jacoby, 1991). Sixty-four older adults and 64 young adults studied a word list in either a full or a divided attention condition. Recall cued with word stems was tested immediately and at 20-minute and 60-minute delays. In contrast to consciously controlled influences of memory, automatic influences of memory (a) showed generally no reliable age differences, (b) remained invariant across the manipulation of attention, and (c) remained relatively invariant across the 60-minute time course. Furthermore, age did not interact with the attentional manipulation or the time course factor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Process dissociation and mixture signal detection theory.

The process dissociation procedure was developed in an attempt to separate different processes involved in memory tasks. The procedure naturally lends itself to a formulation within a class of mixture signal detection models. The dual process model is shown to be a special case. The mixture signal detection model is applied to data from a widely analyzed study. The results suggest that a process other than recollection may be involved in the process dissociation procedure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the logic of testing the independence assumption in the process-dissociation procedure

The process-dissociation procedure is designed to provide quantitative estimates of the influence of explicit and implicit memory in a variety of tasks. The procedure relies on the assumption that these two forms of memory produce independent influences on performance. Prior investigators have attempted to test this assumption by determining whether the parameter representing the influence of implicit memory (denoted A) is constant across experimental conditions. I argue that the constancy of A cannot provide an appropriate test of the independence assumption, because (1) the prediction of constancy can be generated without the assumption of independence, obviating the need to posit independence; and (2) the constancy of A does not necessarily imply independence, even if one assumes that a dependency hypothesis, supplemented by ancillary assumptions (Curran & Hintzman, 1995), predicts differences in A. I close by emphasizing that we can test the independence assumption by using standard procedures that compare the fit of a model that assumes independence with the fit of a model that assumes dependence.     

Adult age differences in controlled and automatic memory processing.

The memory performance of groups of younger, middle-aged, and older participants was tested on indirect and direct tests of word stem completion and on a process-dissociation task. As expected, on the direct tests of stem completion, older participants had lower scores than the younger and middle-aged groups. Age effects were also found on the indirect word completion test. The process-dissociation task allowed memory performance to be divided into controlled and automatic processing components. Estimates of automatic processing were comparable for the three groups, but there was an age effect for controlled processing, with the middle-aged and older groups differing from the younger group. These results confirm the findings of J. M. Jennings and L. L. Jacoby (1993) and suggest that the decline in conscious processing efficiency begins in middle age. (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)