Linking Repetition Priming, Recognition, and Source Memory: A Single-System Signal-Detection Account

Abstract

We present new behavioral data and modeling that links priming, recognition, and source memory. In four experiments, we found that the magnitude of the priming effect, as measured with identification response time in a gradual clarification task, was (1) greater for studied items receiving correct source decisions than incorrect source decisions, and (2) increased as confidence in the source decision increased. Building on the framework for modeling recognition and priming proposed by Berry, Shanks, Speekenbrink, and Henson (2012), we developed a single-system model in which source memory decisions are driven by the same memory strength signal as recognition and priming. We formally compare the model against a multiple-systems model, in which the (implicit) memory signal driving priming is distinct to the (explicit) one driving recognition and source memory. The single-system model reproduces the qualitative patterns of the association between source memory and priming better than the multiple-systems model. Comparison of the quantitative fits was not as clear-cut, however: the single-system model tended to fit better in Experiments 1 and 2, but not in Experiments 3A and 3B, where the observed association between priming and recognition was weaker. Our investigation is an initial attempt at linking priming, recognition, and source memory in the same modelling framework, and provides a basis for further exploration and refinement.