Indirect Memory Performance is not Sensitive to a Shift of Local Context

Abstract

The question of whether local context information affects unaware memory for complex patterns was investigated in two experiments using variants of an indirect memory measure in the form of complexity judgements. Similar to the use of pleasantness ratings as an indirect memory measure where studied items are judged to be more pleasant than new items, previously studied patterns were expected to be perceived as less complex than new patterns. Contextual information was formed by placing line drawings of common objects around abstract patterns. The effect of context on indirect memory performance was assessed by comparing complexity judgements for patterns that retained their object surround between study and test with patterns that were re-paired with a different, but previously studied, object surround between study and test. Both experiments showed that while aware memory, measured by recognition performance, was reduced by a change of context, the indirect memory measures were not affected in this way. The idea that unaware memory may not have access to this type of novel context-target link is discussed.