Performance biases and recognition memory for semantic and formal changes in connected discourse

In an experiment comparing memory for formal and semantic information, the confounding effects of attentional and response biases were controlled using an adaptation of Sachs' (1967, 1974) method. Subjects attempted to recognize semantic or formal changes in test sentences following short passages of connected discourse. Attentional biases were controlled by using a single type of change in an experimental session, and response biases were controlled with methods from signal detection theory. Semantic recognition scores were consistently above formal scores, both within subjects and within passages, indicating that superiority of semantic performance is attributable to differences in memorability rather than to biases favoring semantic performance. However, formal scores were above chance, suggesting that the poor memory for formal information, as reported previously, may have been due to performance factors.