The self-choice effect, that is the superior memory performance observed when participants are allowed to choose the item at the study phase than when they are not (lack of choice), has been explained by the encoding-strategy hypothesis (Takahashi, 1997). This hypothesis distinguishes between organizational processing, which focuses upon the relationship between chosen items, and item-specific processing, which itself focuses on the elements that make the chosen item distinctive. The encoding-strategy hypothesis predicts that the ability for the successive recall of chosen items can be affected by organized list (Experiment 1). The results of our experiments ran counter to the prediction and were interpreted by a new concept called connective processing, which would emphasize the relationship of paired items. Connective processing was examined through orienting tasks (Experiment 2). The results were more suitably interpreted by connective than organizational processing.
Meanings of words facilitate false acceptance as well as correct rejection of lures in recognition memory tests, depending on the experimental context. This suggests that semantic representations are both directly and indirectly (i.e., mediated by perceptual representations) used in remembering. Studies using memory conjunction errors (MCEs) paradigms, in which the lures consist of component parts of studied words, have reported semantic facilitation of rejection of the lures. However, attending to components of the lures could potentially cause this. Therefore, we investigated whether semantic overlap of lures facilitates MCEs using Japanese Kanji words in which a whole-word image is more concerned in reading. Experiments demonstrated semantic facilitation of MCEs in a delayed recognition test (Experiment 1), and in immediate recognition tests in which participants were prevented from using phonological or orthographic representations (Experiment 2), and the salient effect on individuals with high semantic memory capacities (Experiment 3). Additionally, analysis of the receiver operating characteristic suggested that this effect is attributed to familiarity-based memory judgement and phantom recollection. These findings indicate that semantic representations can be directly used in remembering, even when perceptual representations of studied words are available.
The authors examined whether the frequency of conjunction errors varied in a recognition test according to the semantic relation between 2 words. Participants studied a series of natural (meaningful) or bizarre Japanese noun phrase patterns and later completed a recognition test that contained old, conjunction, feature, and new stimuli. Participants who studied a list of natural noun phrases did not make any false old responses to unmatched (bizarre) conjunction stimuli. However, participants who studied bizarre noun phrases made as many false old responses to matched (bizarre) conjunction stimuli as to unmatched (natural) conjunction stimuli. The results of the bizarre study stimuli group indicated that bizarre noun phrases may be translated into meaningful stimuli because of mnemonic instruction. Together, the results support the hypothesis that conceptually based familiarity, not pure perceptually based familiarity, influences false old responses to conjunction stimuli.
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