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Parallel effects of processing fluency and positive affect on familiarity-based recognition decisions for faces
Devin Duke1, Chris M Fiacconi1, Stefan Köhler1
1Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, Western University London, ON, Canada.
Frontiers in Psychology
|May 6, 2014
Summary
Positive affect and processing fluency similarly influence memory recognition. Both enhance familiarity judgments, particularly when participants lack awareness of the initial stimulus, suggesting fluency is marked by positive feelings.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Cognition
- Neuroscience of Memory
Background:
- Attribution models suggest subjective processing ease guides memory recognition.
- Social cognition research links positive affect to signaling processing fluency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effects of positive affect and processing fluency on recognition memory for neutral faces.
- To determine if positive affect acts as a cue for processing fluency in memory judgments.
Main Methods:
- Employed a masked-priming procedure with a Remember-Know (RK) paradigm.
- Separated familiarity-based from recollection-based memory decisions.
- Included a prime-discrimination task to assess awareness of stimuli.
Main Results:
- Manipulations of processing fluency and positive affect yielded highly similar effects.
- Effects were specific to familiarity-based recognition, showing a liberalized response bias.
- The observed effects were contingent on participants' lack of prime awareness.
Conclusions:
- Positive affect plays a significant role in familiarity assessment, mirroring processing fluency.
- Findings support the hypothesis that processing fluency is hedonically marked.
- Awareness of the prime influences the relationship between affect, fluency, and memory.
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