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Browsing by Author "Cleary, Anne M., advisor"

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    Isolating partial recollection as a distinct entity in recognition memory using a modified recognition without identification (RWI) paradigm
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Ryals, Anthony J., author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Seger, Carol A., committee member; Clegg, Benjamin A., committee member; Volbrecht, Vicki J., committee member; Rickey, Dawn, committee member
    In dual-process recognition memory research, recollection is believed to involve bringing to mind a specific prior occurrence, a target item, or the contextual details surrounding a past experience. Prior research has suggested that when recollection fails, individuals can still rely on a sense of familiarity to judge whether something has been experienced before, and the two processes may be dissociable. However, many recognition memory methods index recollection in a binary fashion such that it is treated as an all-or none occurrence. To the contrary, some research suggests that recollection may actually be a variable (i.e., a "some-or-none") process. In the present study, three experiments were conducted to explore the nature of partial recollection using a variation of the recognition without identification procedure (RWI) (Cleary, 2006; Cleary & Greene, 2000; Peynircioglu, 1990). In Experiment 1, I explored the hypothesis that manipulating the amount of perceptual information present at encoding in a recognition task can modulate the likelihood of partial recollection (Parks et al., 2011). In Experiment 2, I examined whether partial recollection responds to word frequency in a manner similar or different than full target recollection or familiarity. In Experiment 3, I explored whether partial recollection, like full target recollection, could also be affected by manipulating degree of target emotionality. In this work, I demonstrate that partial recollection is a distinct, albeit rare, factor in studies of human recognition memory.
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    Letter matching in word familiarity: comparing slot specific, relative position, and overlap coding approaches
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Huebert, Andrew M., author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Seger, Carol A., committee member; Graham, Daniel, committee member; Marques, Luciana, committee member
    Familiarity detection is the sense that something has been encountered before, without being able to recall specifics of the encounter. Viewed as a separable process from recalling specifics, a growing body of research suggests that familiarity detection is an important cognitive process for a variety of reasons. Familiarity detection is thought to be driven by an overlap in features between stimuli stored in memory and a current stimulus. Research on familiarity detection suggests that letters are one significant contributing feature to word familiarity. An unexamined question is the extent to which letter overlap needs to occur in the same positions between existing memory representations and the current stimulus. Research on reading suggests that letters do not need to be in the exact correct location for lexical access to occur, with different theories specifying different constraints. One theory is that letter position is coded in terms of relativity; another is that letter position is coded in terms of general location with flexibility. For this dissertation, I conducted two experiments investigating how letter position processing might operate in word recognition without identification, which is thought to be a metric of familiarity detection. The results were consistent with letters being matched in terms of general location. Letters that were out of position that also did not maintain relativity still contributed to word recognition without identification to the same extent as letters in position. Implications for the mechanism behind feature matching are discussed.
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    Metacognitive states and feelings of curiosity: information-seeking behaviors during momentary retrieval-failure
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) McNeely-White, Katherine L., author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Seger, Carol A., committee member; Henry, Kimberly, committee member; Blanchard, Nathaniel, committee member
    Curiosity during learning increases information-seeking behaviors and subsequent memory retrieval success, yet the mechanisms that drive curiosity and subsequent information-seeking behaviors are poorly understood from a theoretical perspective. Hints throughout the literature suggest that curiosity may be a metacognitive signal, encouraging the experiencer to seek out additional information that will resolve a knowledge gap. Furthermore, a recently demonstrated association between a retrieval- failure-based metacognitive state (the tip-of-the-tongue state) and increased feelings of curiosity points toward an adaptive function of these states. The current study examined the relationship between curiosity and the retrieval-failure-based metacognitive states déjà vu and déjà entendu. Participants received test lists containing novel visual environment cues (Experiment 1) or novel isolated tonal sequence cues (Experiment 2) for previously studied episodes. Across both experiments, participants gave higher curiosity ratings during target retrieval failure to cue stimuli that contained previously encountered features. Further, higher curiosity ratings were given during reported déjà vu or déjà entendu, and these states were associated with increased expenditure of limited resources to discover the answer. The full pattern suggests that déjà vu and déjà entendu may drive curiosity, serve adaptive roles in encouraging further search efforts, and that curiosity may emerge due to feature-matching familiarity-detection processes.
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    Recognition without identification (RWI) and the feeling of knowing (FOK): a comparison of retrospective and prospective-based familiarity judgments
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Nomi, Jason S., author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member; Rickey, Dawn, committee member
    Recognition without identification (RWI) and the feeling of knowing (FOK) are two memory paradigms that attempt to tap awareness of memory states in the absence of identification of a target. Although both RWI and FOKs have been described using the example of recognizing a face as familiar without recalling who that person is, no empirical evidence has yet demonstrated that they are based on a common underlying mechanism. The presented studies attempted to directly compare RWI and FOK judgments by utilizing a hybrid paradigm containing commonly used RWI and FOK methodologies that differed by a single manipulation of instruction type. The data demonstrated that participants gave significantly different patterns of ratings in the RWI condition than the FOK condition, suggesting different underlying mechanisms of RWI and FOK judgments.
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    The role of emotion in recognition with versus without cued-recall
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Ryals, Anthony J. (Anthony Joseph), author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Malcolm, Matthew P. (Matthew Paul), committee member; Clegg, Benjamin A., committee member; McCabe, David P., committee member
    In the present study, we sought to examine the effects of emotion on the processes that subserve recognition memory. Specifically, we explored how two primary dimensions of emotion (negative valence and high arousal) separately impact the two processes of recognition memory (recollection and familiarity). To separately examine recollection and familiarity, the recognition without cued-recall method was used to separate out judgments of recognition that are accompanied vs. unaccompanied by cued-recall. Data from three experiments suggest that both negative valence and high arousal increase both cued-recall performance itself and recognition accompanied by cued recall, without affecting the ability to recognize in the absence of cued-recall. Additionally, two emotional biases were found. The first bias, found in a within-subjects manipulation, involves an increase in recognition ratings for cues corresponding to unrecalled negative items relative to cues corresponding to unrecalled neutral items. The second bias was an increase in recognition ratings for cues corresponding to negative and arousing nonstudied items that were identified relative to cues corresponding to neutral nonstudied items that were identified.
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    The role of familiarity in illusions of prediction
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Huebert, Andrew M., author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Seger, Carol A., committee member; Folkestad, James E., committee member
    Some researchers have argued that the ability to recall (or the recollection of specific details from the past), and the mechanisms involved in doing so, are also used in imagining and predicting future events. However, the ability to recall is only one facet of memory ability. Another is the ability to detect familiarity with stimuli that relate to previously experienced episodes. One might expect that recall is needed to predict future events, as recollection of what occurred in the past might enable prediction of what happens next in a current ongoing episode. However, research on déjà vu has shown a link between familiarity-detection and illusions of prediction and suggests a role of familiarity intensity in these illusions. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of familiarity-detection more generally in illusory feelings of prediction and to explore possible mechanisms. Increasing cue familiarity led to a systematic increase in prediction confidence despite having little to no effect on prediction accuracy. These results did not differ according to whether the decision was past or future oriented. The results also did not differ according to whether the future oriented prediction was logically possible or irrational in nature.
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    The subjective sense of familiarity with music
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) McNeely-White, Katherine L., author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Seger, Carol A., committee member; Henry, Kimberly, committee member; LaGasse, Blythe, committee member
    The process of familiarity—the mere sense or feeling of prior experience with something—remains poorly understood. Most theories assume that familiarity involves separable features held within memory traces, and some empirical evidence supports this notion. Familiarity appears to be at work in the metacognitive phenomenon known as déjà vu—the feeling of having experienced something before despite knowing that it is new—and its accompanying illusion of prediction. The present study examined the nature of musical features held within memory traces and their possible role in déjà entendu – the auditory version of déjà vu. Participants in Experiment 1 received studied songs in altered contexts at test. As in déjà vu research, the familiarity occurring in these altered auditory contexts related to reports of déjà entendu. In Experiment 2, repeated exposure to isolated musical features (rhythm or pitch) at study led to increased familiarity and déjà entendu reports with the full songs later. In Experiment 3, illusory feelings of prediction were shown to be associated with reports of déjà entendu. During déjà entendu, participants felt more able to predict the song's contour (Experiment 3a) and the sound location of the next note in the sequence (Experiment 3b). The full pattern of results suggest that separable features are a central component of the familiarity process with music, and that they play a role in déjà entendu. As shown in déjà vu research, both déjà entendu and feelings of familiarity are associated with illusory feelings of prediction.
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    Using a change-detection task to simulate divided perception and its effects on recognition memory for objects
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Kostic, Bogdan, author; Cleary, Anne M., advisor; Clegg, Benjamin A., committee member; Sarenac, Darko, committee member; Volbrecht, Vicki J., committee member
    Déjà vu is defined as high levels of familiarity for objects or situations that are objectively unfamiliar. One theory of déjà vu is that objects viewed under conditions of divided perception can later evoke familiarity. The present study examined whether a change detection task could simulate divided perception and affect later recognition memory performance for changed items. Participants viewed a study list in which one version of a scene alternated once with another version of the same scene, but with one item absent. Participants attempted to determine the location of the change. On a subsequent test list, participants viewed items from the scenes in isolation and made recognition judgments on them. Across five experiments, this task was used to determine how detection status affected familiarity ratings, how stimulus characteristics affect familiarity ratings, and what recognition processes (i.e., recollection and familiarity) drive recognition decisions for undetected items. Overall, these experiments show that simulated conditions of divided perception do affect recognition memory, which is a first step towards investigating déjà vu directly.