Abstract
Retention interval was manipulated in two recognition-memory experiments in which subjects indicated when recognizing a word whether its recognition was accompanied by some recollective experience (“remember”) or whether it was recognized on the basis of familiarity without any recollective experience (“know”). Experiment 1 showed that between 10 mm and 1 week, “remember” responses declined sharply from an initially higher level, whereas “know” responses remained relatively unchanged. Experiment 2 showed that between 1 week and 6 months, both kinds of responses declined at a similar, gradual rate and that despite quite low levels of performance after 6 months, both kinds of responses still gave rise to accurate discrimination between target words and lures. These findings are discussed in relationship to current ideas about multiple memory systems and processing accounts of explicit and implicit measures of retention.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Baddeley, A. D. (1990).Human memory: Theory and practice. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bahrick, H. P. (1984). Semantic memory content in permastore: Fifty years of memory for Spanish learned in school.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,113, 1–47.
Bahrick, H. P., Barrick, P. O., &Wittlinger, R. P. (1975). Fifty years of memories for names and faces: Across-sectional approach.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,104, 54–75.
Blaxton, T. A. (1991).The role of temporal lobes in memory function: Conceptual and data-driven transfer. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Ebbinohaus, E. E. (1964).Memory (H. A. Ruger & C. E. Bussenius, Trans.). New York: Dover. (Original work published 1885)
Gardiner, J. M. (1988a). Functional aspects of recollective experience.Memory & Cognition,16, 309–313.
Gardiner, J. M. (1988b). Generation and priming effects in word-fragment completion.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,14, 495–501.
Gardiner, J. M., &Java, R. I. (1990). Recollective experience in word and nonword recognition.Memory & Cognition,18, 23–30.
Gardiner, J. M., &Parkin, A. J. (1990). Attention and recollective experience in recognition memory.Memory & Cognition,18, 579–583.
Graf, P., &Mandler, G. (1984). Activation makes words more accessible, but not necessarily more retrievable.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,23, 553–568.
Greene, R. L. (1986). Word stems as cues in recall and completion tasks.Quarterly Journal of Psychology,38A, 663–673.
Gregg, V. H., &Gardiner, J. M. (1991). Components of conscious awareness in a long-term modality effect.British Journal of Psychology,82, 153–162.
Hayman, C. A. G., &Tulving, E. (1989). Is priming a fragment completion based on a “traceless” memory system?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 941–956.
Jacoby, L. L. (1983). Remembering the data: Analyzing interactive processes in reading.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,22, 485–508.
Jacoby, L. L., &Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,110, 306–340.
Kolers, P. A., &Roediger, H. L., III (1984). Procedures of mind.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,23, 425–449.
Loftus, G. R, (1985). Evaluating forgetting curves.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,11, 397–406.
Macken, W., & Hampson, P. (1991).Integration, elaboration, and recollective experience. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Mandler, G. (1980). Recognizing: The judgment of previous occurrence.Psychological Review,87, 252–271.
Mandler, G. (1988). Memory: Conscious and unconscious. In P. R. Solomon, G. R. Goethals, C. M. Kelley, & B. R. Stephens (Eds.),Memory: Interdisciplinary approaches (pp. 84–106). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Mogg, K., Gardiner, J. M., Stavrou, A., & Golombok, S. (in press). Recollective experience and recognition memory for threat in clinical anxiety states.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society.
Parkin, A. J., Reid, T. K., &Russo, R. (1990). On the differential nature of implicit and explicit memory.Memory & Cognition,18, 507–514.
Parkin, A. J., & Walter, B. (1991).Recollective experience, normal aging, and frontal dysfunction. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Richardson-Klavehn, A., &Bjork, R. A. (1988). Measures of memory.Annual Review of Psychology,39, 475–543.
Roediger, H. L., III, &Blaxton, T.A. (1987). Retrieval modes produce dissociations in memory for surface information. In D. Gorfein & R. R. Hoffman (Eds.),Memory and cognitive processes: The Ebbinghaus centennial conference (pp. 349–379). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Roediger, H. L., III,Weldon, M. S., &Challis, B. H. (1989). Explaining dissociations between implicit and explicit measures of retention: A processing account. In H. L. Roediger III & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.),Varieties of memory and consciousness: Essays in honour of Endel Tulving (pp. 3–41). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rubin, D. A. (1982). On the retention function for autobiographical memory.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,21, 21–38.
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 501–518.
Schacter, D. L. (in press). Perceptual representation systems and implicit memory: Toward a resolution of the multiple memory systems debate. In A. Diamond (Ed.),Development and neural bases of higher cognitive function. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Schacter, D. L., Delaney, S. M., &Cooper, L. A. (1990). Implicit memory for unfamiliar objects depends on access to structural descriptions.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,119, 5–24.
Sherry, D. F., &Schacter, D. L. (1987). The evolution of multiple memory systems.Psychological Review,94, 439–454.
Slamecka, N. J. (1985). On comparing rates of forgetting: Comment on Loftus (1985).Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,11, 812–816.
Slamecka, N. J., &McElree, B. (1983). Normal forgetting of verbal lists as a function of their degree of learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,9, 384–397.
Sloman, S. A., Hayman, C. A. G., Ohta, N., Law, J., &Tulving, E. (1988). Forgetting in primed fragment completion.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,14, 223–239.
Squire, L. R. (1989). On the course of forgetting in very long-term memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 241–245.
Tulving, E. (1983).Elements of episodic memory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tulving, E. (1985a). How many memory systems are there?American Psychologist,40, 385–398.
Tulving, E. (1985b). Memory and consciousness.Canadian Psychologist,26, 1–12.
Tulving, E., &Schacter, D. L. (1990). Priming and human memory systems.Science,247, 301–306.
Tulving, E., Schacter, D. L., &Stark, H. A. (1982). Priming effects in word-fragment completion are independent of recognition memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,8, 336–342.
Underwood, B. J. (1964). Forgetting.Scientific American,210(3), 91–99.
Underwood, B. J. (1969). Are we overloading memory? In A. W. Melton & E. Martin (Eds.),Coding processes in human memory. Washington, DC: Winston.
Velmans, M. (in press). Is human information processing conscious?Behavioral & Brain Sciences.
Wickelgren, W. A. (1972). Trace resistance and the decay of long-term memory.Journal of Mathematical Psychology,9, 418–455.
Williams, J. M. G., Watts, F., MacLeod, C., &Mathews, A. (1988).Cognitive psychology and emotion disorders. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gardiner, J.M., Java, R.I. Forgetting in recognition memory with and without recollective experience. Memory & Cognition 19, 617–623 (1991). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197157
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197157