Modeling the conscious correlates of recognition memory: reflections on the remember-know paradigm

Mem Cognit. 1997 May;25(3):345-51. doi: 10.3758/bf03211290.

Abstract

Understanding how memory processes contribute to the conscious experience of memory is central to contemporary cognitive psychology. Recently, many investigators (e.g., Gardiner, 1988) have examined the remember-know paradigm to understand the conscious correlates of recognition memory. A variety of studies have demonstrated that variables have different effects on remember and know responses, and these findings have been interpreted in the context of dual-process models of recognition memory. This paper presents a single-process model of the remember-know paradigm, emphasizing the dependence of remember and know judgments on a set of common underlying processes (e.g., criterion setting). We use this model to demonstrate how a single-process model can give rise to the functional dissociations presented in the remember-know literature. We close by detailing procedures for testing our model and describing how those tests may facilitate the development of dual-process models.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Awareness / physiology*
  • Concept Formation / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Memory / physiology*
  • Models, Psychological
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
  • Self-Assessment*