Retrieval Processes in Recognition Memory

A method of analyzing reaction time data in recognition memory is presented, which uses an explicit model of latency distributions. This distributional method allows us to distinguish between processes in a way that the traditional measure, mean latency, can not. The behavior of latency distributions is described, and four experiments are reported that show how recognition accuracy and latency vary with independent variables such as study and test position, rate of presentation, and list length. These data are used to develop and test the empirical model. The resulting analyses, together with functional relationships derived from the experimental data, are used to test several theories of recognition memory. The theories examined all show problems in light of these stringent tests, and general properties required by a model to account for the data are suggested. As well as arguing for distributional analyses of reaction time data, this paper presents a wide range of phenomena that any theory of recognition memory must explain.

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