Interactive processes in an instance model of memory: A computational analysis of Jacoby's (1983) dissociation...

In a classic and well-cited work, Jacoby (1983) demonstrated an important dissociation in which conceptual processing at study resulted in high performance on a standard memory test but low performance on a perceptual test. Perceptual processing at study resulted in the opposite pattern. I simulated the dissociation in MINERVA2, a classic instance model of memory. I assumed that stimulus representations are composed of perceptual and contextual features and that different study tasks favor the encoding of some features over others. I also assumed that different test tasks utilize some features more than others. The model successfully produced the dissociation. The simulations provide a formal account of a core principle of memory: Performance is determined by the appropriateness of processing at encoding given the demands of retrieval. In conjunction with previous work, I conclude that the result emerged from the same mechanisms that underlie empirical regularities from other areas of memory research (e.g., the production effect) and argue in favor of incorporating converging evidence across multiple modelling frameworks to provide stronger theoretical foundations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).