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The list strength effect: a contextual competition account.

Rachel A Diana¹, Lynne M Reder

¹Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. rdiana@andrew.cmu.edu

Memory & Cognition

|March 15, 2006

Summary

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The list strength effect (LSE) impairs memory for weaker items. This study found LSE in recollection but suggests bias, not item competition, drives the effect, supporting a dual-process account.

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Memory Research

Background:

The list strength effect (LSE) impairs memory for weakly learned items in recall tasks.
Norman (2002) extended LSE findings to the recollection process in recognition tests.

Purpose of the Study:

To test a mechanistic dual-process account of the LSE.
To investigate sources of interference effects within LSE.
To replicate Norman's (2002) findings on recollection LSE.

Main Methods:

Two experiments were conducted to examine the LSE.
Measures of responding and memory performance were analyzed.
Perceptual characteristics at test were manipulated.

Main Results:

Evidence for a recollection LSE was found in raw response measures.

Related Experiment Videos

Memory performance improved with perceptual characteristic reinstatement.

Differences in hits were large, but differences in false alarms were small, leading to non-significant d' differences between lists.

Conclusions:

The LSE may be driven by response bias rather than significant item competition.
Findings support a mechanistic explanation of LSE based on source activation competition and response threshold changes.
The study provides a basis for further modeling of LSE and interference effects.