Components of recollective experience in cued recall

Abstract

Components of recollective experience were examined in relation to cue effectiveness by presenting subjects with their own or someone else's associations as retrieval cues. When recalling an item, subjects indicated whether they consciously recollected its prior occurrence ("remembering") or recalled it on some other basis, in the absence of conscious recollection ("knowing"). The results showed that cue compatibility (self-generated vs. someone else's cues) and retention interval (immediate vs. delayed test) selectively impaired retention accompanied by recollective experience, as measured by remember responses, but had reduced effects in the absence of recollective experience, as measured by know responses. The results are discussed in terms of variables dissociating judgments of recollective experience.