Tests of Dual Process Theory: Word Priming and Recognition

Abstract

Dual process theory postulates two representational processes: Activation of a representation makes the mental event more easily and automatically accessible. Elaboration of a mental event produces access to the representation through search and retrieval processes. We explored word priming in recognition and in a stem completion task where the primed word was one of several possible completions for a 3-letter stem. The main hypothesis was that priming has similar and parallel effects in the two tasks. The initial presentation (priming) of items was under conditions of either semantic or non-semantic processing. Priming was either direct, by the presentation of the target word, or indirect, by the presentation of phonologically related (rhyming) or semantically related (categorical) items. When priming occurred, RTs increased from direct to phonologically primed and to semantically primed items for both completion and recognition tests. One additional experiment confirmed the absence of semantic processing in the non-semantic condition, and another experiment showed that when response requirements for recognition and completion responses are equated, RTs to the two tests are comparable.

Output position and word relatedness effects in a DRM paradigm: Support for a dual-retrieval process theory of free recall and false memories

“…Second, in dual-retrieval theory (e.g., Brainerd et al, 2002), one of the most important aspects of verbatim traces is that these traces consist predominantly of surface (i.e., for visual word stimuli, letter and word forms) information. However, relational processing can promote elaborative processing (i.e., the process of relating semantic information from the stimulus event to semantic memory; Craik & Tulving, 1975) and it has been argued that elaborative processing can promote the integration of surface information (e.g., Mandler, Hamson, & Dorfman, 1990). In short, there are at least a couple of reasons to think that relational processing at study could increase the strength of verbatim traces and, as in the experiments here, lead to an advantage for related recall even during the direct access phase.…”

Guessing Strategies, Aging, and Bias Effects in Perceptual Identification

“…Unstudied words that are orthographically similar to previously studied words have shown an advantage over orthographically dissimilar new words in single-stimulus perceptual identification tasks (e.g., Jacoby, 1983;Rueckl, 1990). Also, in word-stem completion, people are more likely to produce completions that rhyme with previously studied words than completions that are phonologically or orthographically unrelated to studied words (Mandler, Graf, & Kraft, 1986;Mandler, Hamson, & Dorfman, 1990). Priming also occurs in word fragment completion (though apparently not in perceptual identification) for both previously seen compound words (e.g., toothpaste, heartache) and for compound words consisting of recombined elements from studied items (e.g., toothache) (Reinitz & Demb, 1994).…”

Implicit and Explicit Forgetting: When is Gist Remembered?

“…when retention is based primarily on activation (Graf & Mandler, 1984;Graf et al, 1982). It has also been shown that recognition and priming (as exhibited in stem completions) respond in a similar fashion to manipulations of repetition (Graf & Mandler, 1984;Jacoby & Dallas, 1981) and type of activation (Mandler, Graf, & Kraft, 1986;Mandler, Hamson, & Dorfman, 1990) and exhibit parallel rates of forgetting in both normals (Graf & Mandler, 1984;Jacoby, 1983a) and amnesic patients .…”