title: Repetition priming of words, pseudowords, and nonwords.
abstract: In 5 experiments, the authors assessed repetition priming for words, pseudowords, and nonwords using a task that combines an implicit perceptual fluency measure and a recognition memory assessment for each list item. Words and pseudowords generated a consistently strong repetition effect even when there was a failure to recognize the stimulus. In 2 of the experiments, the repetition effect for nonwords was reliably above chance even when there was a failure to recognize the stimulus. The authors propose a parallel distributed processing (PDP) model based on the work of J. McClelland and D. Rumelhart (1985) as a way to understand the mechanisms potentially responsible for the pattern of findings. Although the error-driven nature of learning in the model results in a poor fit to the nonword priming data, this is not endemic to all PDP models. Using a model based on Hebbian learning, the authors instantiate a property that they believe is characteristic of implicit memory--that learning is primarily based on the strengthening of connections between units that become active during the processing of a stimulus. This model provides a far more satisfactory account of the data than does the error-driven model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. cstark@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: McClelland
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011930:Reaction Time; D014825:Vocabulary