[A review of source memory research in the source monitoring paradigm]

Research on source memory in the source monitoring paradigm was reviewed and discussed. The author analyzed three factors contributing to the current upsurge of source memory research: (a) a basic theoretical framework and a basic experimental paradigm for source monitoring were established by Johnson and her collaborators, (b) source monitoring tasks were a more sensitive measure than recall and recognition tasks to assess one's explicit memory among different populations, and (c) the source monitoring paradigm is so flexible and versatile to design a variety of experiments. Further studies are necessary for the paradigm to find a better way of analyzing data and to verify its premises. Regardless of these problems, however, the author predicted a further explosion of source memory research in the paradigm because it would give us a hint of an underlying mechanism of how memory is processed.