Time course of item and associative information: implications for global memory models

The time course of availability of associative and item information was examined by using a response signal procedure. Associative information discriminates between a studied pair of words and a pair with words from two different studied pairs. Item information is sufficient to discriminate between a studied pair and a pair not studied. In two experiments, discriminations that require associative information are delayed relative to those based on item information. Two additional experiments discount alternative explanations in terms of the time to encode the test items or task strategies. Examination of the global memory models of Gillund and Shiffrin (1984), Hintzman (1988), and Murdock (1982) shows that the models treat item and associative information inseparably. Modifications to these models which can produce separate contributions for item and associative information do not predict any difference in their availability. Two possible mechanisms for the delayed availability of associative information are considered: the involvement of recall in recognition and the time required to form a compound cue.