When is a direct test of memory more sensitive than an indirect test?
| Autor: | Marilyn C. Smith, Derek Besner, Nachshon Meiran |
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| Rok vydání: | 1996 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale. 50:139-148 |
| ISSN: | 1878-7290 1196-1961 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/1196-1961.50.1.139 |
| Popis: | A direct test of memory such as recognition memory is typically considered to be less sensitive than an indirect test such as lexical decision (e.g., Schacter, 1987). However in previous research we found that manipulations which eliminated semantic priming of lexical decision did not eliminate semantic priming of recognition memory. In the present experiment we replicated and extended this result by including an additional indirect memory test - semantic categorization. Subjects initially performed a lexical decision task, and were then given two memory tests for the words which had appeared in the lexical decision task: a direct recognition memory test and an indirect semantic categorization test. In lexical decision, performing letter search on a prime eliminated semantic priming of related targets. However, semantic priming was preserved in recognition memory: Primes were better remembered if they had been followed by related as compared to unrelated targets during lexical decision. In contrast, semantic categorization performance was unaffected by whether the lexical decision items had initially appeared in a related or an unrelated context. The dissociation suggests that different processes under - lie priming in lexical decision and in recognition memory. The former is best explained in terms of spreading activation, whereas the latter is best explained in terms of integrative processing involved in the production of an episodic trace. Memory is studied by many people in many different ways. The different methods used by different investigators have, in large measure, led to the establishment of two quite distinct literatures. In one such literature the dependent measure is typically accuracy (as measured, for example, in the context of recognition memory, recall, and fragment completion). In another literature accuracy is near ceiling, and the primary dependent measure is the time taken to make a decision (as measured, for example, in lexical decision and naming). A further complication is that the former literature is typically thought of as the study of "memory" while the latter literature is often conceptualized as the study of visual word recognition and reading rather than of memory. It is not our purpose here to discuss why the study of "memory" has developed as it has; without doubt there are many reasons (functional autonomy of methods comes easily to mind as one). Instead, we set out to mine a potentially rich lode which consists of looking at both measures in the context of an experiment on "reading" and "memory". In the experiment reported here there is a dissociation between a direct and an indirect test in which the direct test (recognition memory) is more sensitive to a manipulation of semantic context than is the indirect test (lexical decision). In short, a manipulation which eliminates the typically robust semantic priming effect in lexical decision leaves an effect of semantic priming preserved in recognition memory. These data are consistent with the view that an episodic form of memory which likely subserves comprehension processes in reading should be thought of as distinct from the activation in semantic memory that likely drives lexical decisions. Semantic Priming in Lexical Decision In the "semantic priming" paradigm(f.1), subjects are asked to process a target word such as BUTTER following the prior processing of either a related word such as BREAD or an unrelated word such as KING (e.g., Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971). It is now well documented that target processing is faster or more accurate or both following a related prime in a variety of tasks including lexical decision, perceptual identification, naming, and category decision (see Neely, 1991, for a review). However, it has also consistently been demonstrated that whether or not the prior processing of a prime word facilitates the processing of a related target depends on how the prime is processed. … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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