Structural processing and implicit memory for possible and impossible figures.

Abstract

Previous investigations have shown that participants are biased to respond "possible" to studied items when asked to decide whether objects could or could not exist in an object possibility test. The present study clarified and extended the concept of bias in implicit memory research in two ways. First, the authors showed that participants were biased to respond "possible" (rather than "impossible") on the object possibility test because structural processing was facilitated by prior study of possible, but not impossible, portions of objects. Second, the authors demonstrated that bias in this context was a form of, not an alternative to, implicit memory, by showing priming effects in response times when accuracy scores for studied and unstudied items were equated. The authors concluded by comparing proceduralist and memory-systems accounts of implicit memory effects and suggested that the two approaches could be seen as complementary rather than conflicting.

Experimental dissociations between memory measures: Influence of retrieval strategies

“…These findings may shed some light on the role of fluency in the object decision task. Indeed, in this task, fluency seems to lead subjects to respond "possible" to both possible and impossible objects that have previously studied see also, Marsolek & Burgund, 2005;Williams & Tarr, 1997). However, in Experiment 1A, even when participants were told to respond as quickly as possible, test objects were presented until the participant responded or 4 s had elapsed (similarly to Williams & Tarr, 1999).…”

“…We attempted to eliminate analytic processing by imposing a deadline procedure similar to that proposed by Ratcliff and McKoon (1995, Experiments 2 and 3; see also Williams & Tarr, 1997). Our reasoning was that analytic processes requiring more resources than global processing could be slower by comparison and thus short response periods would potentially prevent participants from searching for specific information, but would prompt participants to use a simple global impression.…”

The influence of task requirements on priming in object decision and matching

“…These task manipulations may well tap some different aspects of representations than do the tasks that are normally used, which puts into question their rejection of the original Schacter/Cooper (Schacter et al, 1990) conclusion. Even more decisively, other investigators have reported data from object decision tasks that are inconsistent with the bias interpretation (e.g., Ganor-Stern, Seamon, & Carrasco, 1998;Williams & Tarr, 1997).…”

Mere exposure effect: A consequence of direct and indirect fluency–preference links

“…Forty-eight line drawings of unfamiliar three-dimensional objects were used (Williams & Tarr, 1997). In a preliminary phase, we prepared two sets of equally complex figures (see Carrasco & Seamon, 1996).…”