Inconsistency effects in source memory and compensatory schema-consistent guessing

The attention–elaboration hypothesis of memory for schematically unexpected information predicts better source memory for unexpected than expected sources. In three source-monitoring experiments, the authors tested the occurrence of an inconsistency effect in source memory. Participants were presented with items that were schematically either very expected or very unexpected for their source. Multinomial processing tree models were used to separate source memory, item memory, and guessing bias. Results show an inconsistency effect in source memory accompanied by a compensatory schema-consistent guessing bias when expectancy strength is high, that is, when items are very expected or very unexpected for their source.

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Measuring Source Memory

Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1027/0044-3409.215.1.52 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 215 (1) ◽

pp. 52-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Arndt Bröder ◽

Thorsten Meiser

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Processes ◽

Source Memory ◽

Source Monitoring ◽

Memory Item ◽

Item Memory ◽

Research Practice ◽

Multinomial Models ◽

Monitoring Process ◽

Measurement Tools ◽

Review Model

Abstract. The investigation of source monitoring (SM) as a special faculty of episodic memory has gained much attention in recent years. However, several measures of source memory have been used in research practice that show empirical and theoretical shortcomings: First, they often confound various cognitive processes like source memory, item memory and response bias, and second, they do not do justice to the multitude of processes involved in SM according to the framework of Johnson, Hashtroudi, and Lindsay (1993) . We therefore review model-based measurement approaches, focusing on multinomial models, and we distinguish between theorizing about source memory and the pragmatics of source memory measurement as two partly separate goals of research. Whereas signal detection models seem to be more adequate theories of the underlying source monitoring process, multinomial models have some pragmatic advantages that nevertheless recommend them as viable measurement tools.

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A Hierarchy of Multinomial Models for Multidimensional Source Monitoring

Methodology ◽

10.1027/1614-1881.1.1.2 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 2-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Thorsten Meiser

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Processes ◽

Source Monitoring ◽

Source Information ◽

Model Comparisons ◽

Storage And Retrieval ◽

Multinomial Processing Tree ◽

Multinomial Models ◽

Hierarchical Relationship ◽

Statistical Framework ◽

Tree Models

Abstract. Several models have been proposed for the measurement of cognitive processes in source monitoring. They are specified within the statistical framework of multinomial processing tree models and differ in their assumptions on the storage and retrieval of multidimensional source information. In the present article, a hierarchical relationship is demonstrated between multinomial models for crossed source information ( Meiser & Bröder, 2002 ), for partial source memory ( Dodson, Holland, & Shimamura, 1998 ) and for several sources ( Batchelder, Hu, & Riefer, 1994 ). The hierarchical relationship allows model comparisons and facilitates the specification of identifiability conditions. Conditions for global identifiability are discussed, and model comparisons are illustrated by reanalyses and by a new experiment on the storage and retrieval of multidimensional source information.

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