Andy Yonelinas (UC Davis)

Presenter: Andy Yonelinas, Colleen Parks & Chris Wahlheim

Title: ‘Towards’ a Unified Theory of Similar Lures

Abstract:
Important advances have been made understanding the processes of recollection/familiarity, true/false memory, and pattern-separation/completion, by examining memory for lures that are similar – but not identical – to studied items. However, the research in these areas has remained largely isolated, and a coherent theoretical integration is lacking. We argue that these paradigms can be understood within a multi-process signal-detection framework in which memory for lures reflects the operation of three distinct processes: false-familiarity, recollection-rejection, and false-recollection. We review studies that have measured memory confidence, which allowed us to measure these underlying processes. The results suggest that these three functionally separable processes contribute to each of these paradigms, and that they can be measured by examining confidence ratings.