Context-dependent repetition effects on recognition memory

One widely acknowledged way to improve our memory performance is to repeatedly study the to be learned material. One aspect that has received little attention in past research regards the context sensitivity of this repetition effect, that is whether the item is repeated within the same or within different contexts. The predictions of a neuro-computational model (O'Reilly & Norman, 2002) were tested in an experiment requiring participants to study visual objects either once or three times. Crucially, for half of the repeated objects the study context (encoding task, background color and screen position) remained the same (within context repetition) while for the other half the contextual features changed across repetitions (across context repetition). In addition to behavioral measures, event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded that provide complementary information on the underlying neural mechanisms during recognition. Consistent with dual-process models behavioral estimates (remember/know-procedure) demonstrate differential effects of context on memory performance, namely that recognition judgements were more dependent on familiarity when repetition occurs across contexts. In accordance with these behavioral results ERPs showed a larger early frontal old/new effect for across context repetitions as compared to within context repetitions and single presentations, i.e. an increase in familiarity following repetition across study contexts. In contrast, the late parietal old/new effect, indexing recollection did not differ between both repetition conditions. These results suggest that repetition differentially affects familiarity depending on whether it occurs within the same context or across different contexts.