Examining the effects of pleasantness ratings on correct and false recognition in the DRM paradigm: accuracy, recollection and familiarity estimates

Abstract

Distinctive encoding usually increases correct recognition while also producing a reduction in false recognition. In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) illusion this phenomenon, called the mirror effect, occurs when participants focus on unique features of each of the words in the study list. In previous studies, the pleasantness rating task, used to foster distinctive encoding, generated different patterns of results. The main aim of our research is to examine under what circumstances this task can produce the mirror effect in the DRM paradigm, based on evidence from recognition accuracy and subjective retrieval experience. In Experiment 1, a standard version (word pleasantness rating on a 5-point Likert-type scale) was used for comparison with two other encoding conditions: shallow processing (vowel identification) and a read-only control. The standard task, compared to the other conditions, increased correct recognition, but did not reduce false recognition, and this result may be affected by the number of lists presented for study. Therefore, in experiment 2, to minimize the possible effect of the so-called retention size, the number of studied lists was reduced. In addition, the standard version was compared with a supposedly more item-specific version (participants rated the pleasantness of words while thinking of a single reason for this), also including the read-only control condition. In both versions of the pleasantness rating task, more correct recognition is achieved compared to the control condition, with no differences between the two versions. In the false recognition observed here, only the specific pleasantness rating task achieved a reduction relative to the control condition. On the other hand, the subjective retrieval experience accompanied correct and false recognition in the various study conditions. Although the standard pleasantness rating task has been considered to perform item-specific processing, our results challenge that claim. Furthermore, we propose a possible boundary condition of the standard task for the reduction of false recognition in the DRM paradigm.