Bayesian analysis of recognition memory: The case of the list-length effect
Bayesian analysis of recognition memory: The case of the list-length effect
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jml.2008.06.007
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发表时间：
2008-10-01
影响因子：
4.3
通讯作者：
Kinnell, Angela
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dennis, Simon;Lee, Michael D.;Kinnell, Angela
识别记忆实验是记忆理论经验约束的重要来源。不幸的是，分析识别记忆数据的标准方法往往存在严重的问题，以至于无法获得明确的答案。一个关键的例子是，较长的列表是否会导致较差的识别性能。这种列表长度效应的存在与否是对基于项目和上下文噪声的相互竞争的干扰理论的一个关键测试，并揭示了识别是否像双过程理论所主张的那样涉及“类似回忆”的成分。然而，这个问题一直没有得到解决，部分原因是标准分析的弱点。本文提出了一种贝叶斯分析方法，并将其应用于列表长度效应的新数据。分析使我们能够找到支持由上下文噪声模型预测的空列表长度效应的积极证据。这些数据还说明了上下文恢复过程对识别性能的重要性，并显示了先前证明列表长度效应的工作如何受到恢复混淆的污染。通过将我们的新方法与标准方法进行对比，我们突出了贝叶斯框架在推断心理上有意义的变量值以及在代表不同理论假设的模型之间进行选择时的优势。(C) 2008爱思唯尔公司版权所有。
Recognition memory experiments are an important source of empirical constraints for theories of memory. Unfortunately, standard methods for analyzing recognition memory data have problems that are often severe enough to prevent clear answers being obtained. A key example is whether longer lists lead to poorer recognition performance. The presence or absence of such a list-length effect is a critical test of competing item- and context-noise based theories of interference and bares on whether recognition involves "recall-like" components as dual process theories would contend. However, the issue has remained unresolved, in part, because of the weaknesses of the standard analysis. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian method of analysis and apply it to new data on the list-length effect. The analysis allows us to find positive evidence in favor of a null list-length effect as predicted by context noise models. The data also illustrate the importance of the contextual reinstatement process on recognition performance and show how previous work demonstrating a list-length effect may have been contaminated by reinstatement confounds. By contrasting our new method against the standard approach we highlight the advantages of the Bayesian framework when inferring the values of psychologically meaningful variables, and in choosing between models representing different theoretical assumptions about memory. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.