The effect of context and metamemory judgements on automatic processes in memory

These experiments examine two aspects of the automatic influences on memory as measured by target responding in the exclusion condition within the process dissociation framework. In Experiment 1, we examine the extent to which congruency between study and test contexts affects automatic processes in memory. In Experiment 2, we investigate qualitative differences in consciously controlled and automatic processing as indexed by metamemory judgements. In both experiments, a process-dissociation procedure was used to separate automatic and consciously controlled uses of memory in a stem completion task. In the study phase of Experiment 1, subjects read a passage from one of two directed perspectives. The subsequent stem completion task, which subjects performed while mindful of the study perspective, contained (a) old words congruent with the directed perspective, (b) old words congruent with a different (non-directed) perspective, and (c) words that had not been presented. Estimates of automatic influences for words congruent with the directed perspective were found to be greater than estimates for words incongruent with the directed perspective. These results provide evidence for the automatic or unconscious influences of meaning on task performance, which is uncontaminated by the influence of consciously controlled recollection which may occur in indirect memory tests. In Experiment 2, judgements of learning made prior to retrieval under inclusion and exclusion instructions were found to be different for consciously controlled and automatic processes, suggesting that memory as measured by the opposition (exclusion) procedure is involuntary and unconscious, with prospective monitoring of performance not sensitive to eventual performance.