Precise and imprecise memories may fool you: Continuous memory measures uncover different sources of errors in recognition memory

Abstract

Recognition memory can be faulty. Participants sometimes incorrectly judge unseen stimuli as seen before (false alarms, FAs), or seen stimuli as not seen (misses). However, the sources of these memory errors remain poorly understood. This study combines an identical(old)/similar/new recognition memory task with a memory precision task to explore sources of recognition memory errors. The results demonstrate that while FAs to similar but unseen items are associated with surprisingly high memory precision, incorrect classification of identical items as ‘similar’ is associated with a marked decline in memory precision. Lastly, incorrect ‘new’ ratings to both identical and similar items showed most severely decreased memory precision, over and above that seen for other memory misclassifications. These results suggest that misses are due to memory decay processes, while FAs stem from recollection-based interference between stimuli. The findings lay the groundwork to explore specific memory deficits in different populations.

Authors 1

1. Franziska R. Richter corresponding Aachen Cognitive Psychology Unit Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands