title: On the nature of the decision axis in signal-detection-based models of recognition memory.
abstract: Most models of recognition memory involve a signal-detection component in which a criterion is placed along a decision axis. Older models generally assume a familiarity-decision axis, but newer models often assume a likelihood ratio axis instead because it allows for a more natural account of the ubiquitous mirror effect. In 3 experiments reported here, item strength was differentially manipulated to see whether a mirror effect would occur. Within a list, the items from 1 category were strengthened by repetition, but the items from another category were not. On the subsequent recognition test, the hit rate was higher for the strong category, but the false-alarm rates for the weak and strong categories were the same (i.e., no mirror effect was observed). This result suggests that the decision axis represents a familiarity scale and that participants adopt a single decision criterion that they maintain throughout the recognition test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0109, USA.
authors.forename: Holly E R
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Morrell
authors.forename: Santino
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gaitan
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Wixted
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011932:Reading; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological