Recollective performance advantages for implicit memory tasks.
A commonly held assumption is that processes underlying explicit and implicit memory are distinct. Recent evidence, however, suggests that they may interact more than previously believed. Using the remember-know procedure the current study examines the relation between recollection, a process thought to be exclusive to explicit memory, and performance on two implicit memory tasks, lexical decision and word stem completion. We found that, for both implicit tasks, words that were recollected were associated with greater priming effects than were words given a subsequent familiarity rating or words that had been studied but were not recognised (misses). Broadly, our results suggest that non-voluntary processes underlying explicit memory also benefit priming, a measure of implicit memory. More specifically, given that this benefit was due to a particular aspect of explicit memory (recollection), these results are consistent with some strength models of memory and with Moscovitch's (2008) proposal that recollection is a two-stage process, one rapid and unconscious and the other more effortful and conscious.
Sheldon
Signy A M
SA
University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Sidney Smith Hall, 4th Floor,University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3. signy.sheldon@utoronto.ca
Moscovitch
Morris
M
D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult