Abstract
The false recognition effect in continuous recognition memory was examined as a function of lag, orthographic distinctiveness of early critical stimulus (CS) words and (presumably semantic) distinctiveness (D) of experimental (E) words. False recognition was not affected by orthographic distinctiveness, although both D level and lag had some effects. The results provided little support for a features encoding hypothesis (cf. MacLeod & Nelson, 1976) or for a strict implicit associative response interpretation. Possible explanations in terms of E word D level were discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anisfeld, M., & Knapp, M. Association, synonymity, and directionality in false recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1968, 77, 171–179.
Bousfield, W. A., Whitmarsh, G. A., & Danick, J. J. Partial response identities in verbal generalization. Psychological Reports, 1958, 4, 703–713.
Kausler, D. H. Orthographic distinctiveness of homonyms and the feature-tagging hypothesis. American Journal of Psychology, 1973, 86, 141–149.
Kausler, D. H., & Settle, A. V. The false-recognition effect for homophones of items subjects are cued to forget. American Journal of Psychology, 1975, 88, 627–634.
MacLeod, C. M., & Nelson, T. O. A nonomonotonic lag function for false alarms to associates. American Journal of Psychology, 1976, 89, 127–135.
Shepard, R. N., & Teghtsoonian, M. Retention of information under conditions approaching a steady state. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1961, 62, 302–309.
Underwood, B. J. False recognition produced by implicit verbal responses. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1965, 70, 122–129.
Walter, D. A., & Hellebusch, S. The role of associative elaboration in word recognition: Evidence for a two-stage test elaboration sequence. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1974, 103, 79–84.
Zechmeister, E. B. Orthographic distinctiveness as a variable in word recognition. American Journal of Psychology, 1972, 85, 425–430.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The report is based upon a master’s thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology at the University of Georgia by the first author under the direction of the second author. Portions of the material presented here were presented to the 1977 meeting of the American Psychological Association.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hill, G.W., Leonard, S.D. False recognition as a function of lag and distinctiveness. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 13, 253–256 (1979). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335074
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335074