Decision processes in memory.

Bernbach, Harley A.

doi:10.1037/h0025132

Cited by 135 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Threshold models of memory are attractive because of their simplicity (Bernbach, 1967). Moreover, in many instances they are sufficient for analyses of empirical data, particularly those used to suggest qualitative changes, such as the identification of functional dissociations between cognitive or neuropsychologicai variables.…”

Section: Continuous Signal Detection Models and The Analysis Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of signal detection and threshold models of source memory.

Slotnick¹,

Klein²,

Dodson³

et al. 2000

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

160

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The authors analyzed source memory performance with an unequal-variance signal detection theory model and compared the findings with extant threshold (multinomial and dual-process) models. In 3 experiments, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses of source discrimination revealed curvilinear functions, supporting the relative superiority of a continuous signal detection model when compared with a threshold model. This result has implications for both multinomial and dual-process models, bom of which assume linear ROCs in their description of source memory performance.Source memory refers to memory for the context in which information was acquired (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993). For example, memory for the person with whom one is conversing or the place where one is conversing can be interpreted as source memory. In psychological experiments, source memory is typically assessed by asking participants to determine the origin of previously presented information, such as whether the information was presented verbally or visually, presented by a male or a female voice, or presented in one spatial location or another. As these examples imply, source memory depends on memory for autobiographical or episodic information. Various cognitive and neuropsychological findings have suggested that, to some degree, memory for source can be dissociated from item memory (see Dodson & Shimamura, 2000;Johnson, Kounios, & Reeder, 1994;Schacter, Harbluk, & McLachlan, 1984;Shimamura & Squire, 1987;Zaragoza & Lane, 1994). Indeed, various models of memory suggest a distinction that is related to differences between item and source memory (e.g., Gardiner, 1988;Hirst, 1982;Jacoby, 1991;Johnson et al., 1993;Mayes, Meudell, & Pickering, 1985;Tulving, 1972). Johnson et al. (1993) developed a useful framework for the analysis of source memory. In this "source monitoring" framework, the degree to which individuals identify the source of a memory depends, in part, on the kind of information that is acquired and remembered. That is, one can remember various aspects of a learning episode, such as perceptual information,

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Section: Continuous Signal Detection Models and The Analysis Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of signal detection and threshold models of source memory.

Slotnick¹,

Klein²,

Dodson³

et al. 2000

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

160

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…His work applying SDT to recognition led to the class of recognition memory models based in strength theory. In these theories the SDT framework was presumed to underlie the memory decision, which was made on the basis of the perceived strength or familiarity of a target stimulus (Bernbach, 1967(Bernbach, , 1971Murdock, 1965;Murdock & Dufty, 1972;Wickelgren & Norman, 1966).…”

Section: Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

A dynamic stimulus-driven model of signal detection.

Turner

Zandt

Brown

2011

Psychological Review

105

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Signal detection theory forms the core of many current models of cognition, including memory, choice, and categorization. However, the classic signal detection model presumes the a priori existence of fixed stimulus representations-usually Gaussian distributions-even when the observer has no experience with the task. Furthermore, the classic signal detection model requires the observer to place a response criterion along the axis of stimulus strength, and without theoretical elaboration, this criterion is fixed and independent of the observer's experience. We present a dynamic, adaptive model that addresses these 2 long-standing issues. Our model describes how the stimulus representation can develop from a rough subjective prior and thereby explains changes in signal detection performance over time. The model structure also provides a basis for the signal detection decision that does not require the placement of a criterion along the axis of stimulus strength. We present simulations of the model to examine its behavior and several experiments that provide data to test the model. We also fit the model to recognition memory data and discuss the role that feedback plays in establishing stimulus representations.Keywords: signal detection theory, recognition memory, cognitive modeling, dynamic models of information processing Signal detection theory (SDT) is crucial to many important theories in cognitive psychology, especially those theories that deal with performance in two-choice tasks. In such tasks, an observer is presented with a series of trials in which he or she must respond to a stimulus. The stimulus is one of two types, either "noise" (requiring a response of "no") or "signal" (requiring a response of "yes"). What constitutes noise or signal can be very flexible.The SDT framework assumes that the presentation of a stimulus gives rise to a perception of some sensory effect in the cognitive apparatus of the observer. The magnitude of the effect, conceived on some relevant experiential scale such as "loudness" or "familiarity," is used as the basis of the "yes" or "no" decision. Random noise in the observer's perceptual system (or in the stimulus itself) results in varying magnitudes of effects over different stimulus presentations but, on average, signals result in larger effects than noise. Variability in sensory effects is represented by two random variables that often are assumed to follow equal-variance Gaussian distributions, though this assumption is not strictly necessary. To make a decision, traditional SDT assumes that observers place a criterion along the axis of sensory effect. The "yes" or "no" response is determined by whether the perceived effect is above or below this criterion (see Macmillan & Creelman, 2005, for a review).SDT is not confined to the relatively simple problem of detecting the presence of signals. Any two-choice task that can be recast as a magnitude judgment can be shoehorned into the SDT framework. Consider, for example, a lab technician whose job is to examine Pap smears an...

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“…In word perception tasks, d' and mean correct receptions have at times shown covariation (Hochhaus & Antes, 1973;Pollack & Decker, 1958); yet, in the case of recall memory, variables which affect retention, such as repetition and serial position, do not appear to affect Type II confidence rating accuracy (e.g., Bernbach, 1967). Because presentation times differed for monosyllables and trisyllables and because the empirical independence of d' and word recognition accuracy is not immediately apparent, a second experiment was carried out to safeguard the conclusion that the two measures ("knowing" and "knowing that you know") reflect independent psychological processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Word length and “knowing that you know” in perceptual recognition

Hochhaus

Bowen

1977

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

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"Response conditional" confidence rating accuracy (Type IT d' ) was examined as 19 subjects listened to a list of monosyllable and trisyllable words masked by white noise. Word length added significantly to d' (p < .(01) and also improved probability correct (p < .(01). The interpretation that the two dependent variables (d' and probability correct) reflect independent psychological processes was supported by Experiment II (n = 20), which substituted visual for auditory presentation but maintained the confidence rating procedure. In the case of visual' presentation, long words showed a strong d' advantage over short words (p<.OOI), but only a mild advantage over short words in terms of probability correct (p'>.05). Overall, the effect of word length on "knowing that you know" (d') appears to operate through the mechanism of selection constraints placed on the number of perceptual alternatives.By means of confidence ratings, observers are able to provide independent, supplementary information concerning the accuracy of their perceptual reports (e.g., Pollack & Decker, 1958). In the auditory word perception task of Pollack and Decker, confidence rating accuracy (d') was directly related to the speech-to-noise ratio, yet was unaffected by successive repetitions of the same message. In a similar experiment, Hochhaus and Antes (1973) found confidence rating accuracy was greater when all words were drawn from the same organizational category (food words), a result which led them to the hypothesis that the confidence ratings of words are affected by the context in which the words appear.According to the context hypothesis, important "feelings of knowing" arise from comparison of individual words against the perceived selection constraints of other' words in the series. The con tex t hypothesis further predicts that, if the reported word fits the overall context of other words, confidence ratings increase, and that, if the reported word does not match the context, confidence is undermined. The total effect of contextual constraint, therefore, is to improve the accuracy of confidence ratings (d'), To summarize, the confidence with which a word is perceived depends upon the listener's broader knowledge that the word fits the matrix of expectancies created by immediately preceding perceptions.In the present paper it is argued that selection constraints occur within word units as well as between them. Perception of a part of a word may be evaluated on the basis of its fit with other parts of the same word.

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Decision processes in memory.

Cited by 135 publications

References 20 publications

An analysis of signal detection and threshold models of source memory.

An analysis of signal detection and threshold models of source memory.

A dynamic stimulus-driven model of signal detection.

Word length and “knowing that you know” in perceptual recognition

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