Overview:  This study examines the effect of repetition on recollection (i.e. remember judgments) and familiarity (i.e. know judgments).

• Many dual process models of memory claim that recognition memory is a two component process in which recognition can occur either through conscious recollection of the item or through familiarity
• Tulving developed the remember/know paradigm as a way of measuring these two component processes.  Participants indicate that they remember an item if they can consciously recollect it.  They indicate that they know an item if its just familiar
• Theoretical accounts of how remember/know judgments differ include
• Remember judgments reflect episodic memory and know judgments represent semantic memory (e.g. Tulving, 1985).
• Remember judgments reflect conceptual processing and Know judgments reflect perceptual processing (e.g. Gardiner, 1988).
• Remember judgments occur when items are made distinctive and Know judgments reflect increased fluency (Rajaram, 1996).
• Aim was to show that conceptual processing can influence know judgments.  This was examined by repeating either exact items (Experiment 1) or exemplars of categories (Experiment 2) in either a spaced or a massed format.  From what we've said so far it makes sense that massing items at study would increase fluency without increasing distinctiveness.  Spacing items at study should increase distinctiveness.  So according to the Distinctiveness/Fluency account spacing should increase remember judgments and massing should increase know judgments.

Method

• Items were presented either 1 time, 4 times, or 8 times.
• Participants studied items in either a massed or spaced format
• Items presented for 1 second, then there was a 1 second pause, then the next item was presented
• Recognition test 15 minutes later in which Ss made remember, know or guess responses

• Repetition increased remember judgments in both spaced and massed conditions.
• Effect of number of repetitions on remember judgments was greater for spaced than for massed

• Know judgments were not influenced by number of repetitions or by whether spaced or massed repetition was used.

• Like Experiment 1, except that instead of presenting the same item multiple times items from the same category were presented multiple times.  Each item appeared only once.

• Correct Remember judgments were not influenced by the number of repetitions or by the spacing of repetitions
• Correct Know responses increased with the number of times the category was repeated
• False Know judgments also increased with category repetition

• A signal detection analysis revealed that category repetition decreased d' and b.  It appears from inspection of their tables that repetition increased false remember judgments somewhat while true remember judgments didn't change very much, resulting in the lower senstivity.
• For know judgments b decreased with category repetition.  d' seemed to be influenced by repetition too (p < .08) but the pattern did not appear to be systematic.

• They make the argument that category repetition increases the familiarity of the category.  There main point being that conceptual manipulations appear to be capable of influences know judgments as well as remember judgments.

• In exact repetition, spacing increases the distinctiveness of separate memory traces.  This should increase remember jugments when items are repeated.  That's basically what was found in Experiment 1
• In category repetition, both true and false know judgments were increased.  This is problematic for the view that know judgments reflect perceptual processing but can be explained by the fluency component of Rajaram's account.