Predicting the future and reconstructing the past: a Bayesian characterization of the utility of subjective fluency.
The subjective sense of fluency with which an item can be perceived or remembered is proposed to be a vital cue in making decisions about the future memorability and the nature of our past experience with that stimulus. We first outline a number of cases in which such perceptual or retrieval fluency influences judgments both about our own future performance and our likely past experience, and then present a Bayesian analysis of how judgments of recognition--deciding whether or not a currently viewed item was studied at a particular point in the past--may incorporate information about the perceptual fluency of that item. Using a simple mathematical model, we then provide an interpretation of certain enigmatic phenomena in recognition memory.
Benjamin
A S
AS
Department of Psychology, UCLA 90095-1563. benjamin@psych.ucla.edu
Bjork
R A
RA
Hirshman
E
E
D001499:Bayes Theorem; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008568:Memory; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010465:Perception