Associative relatedness effects in retrieval-based and familiarity-based recognition

Abstract

The results of two experiments are reported that involved the encoding-specificity recognition-failure paradigm. The results of these experiments, using materials that varied in associative relatedness, support the distinction between two qualitatively different recognition processes. Retrieval-based recognition was seen to increase with increases in associative relatedness and was accompanied by successful cued recall. Familiarity-based recognition, however, increased with decreases in associative relatedness and was not accompanied by successful cued recall. It is suggested that these two kinds of recognition reflect different memory systems and that they are often inversely related to one another.