Word-imagery effects on recollection and familiarity in recognition memory.

The Remember/Know procedure was used to investigate the effects of word imageability on recognition memory. An experiment, using French-speaking undergraduate students (17 women and 3 men), replicated Dewhurst and Conway's 1994 finding that rated imageability significantly increased accurate Remember responses but not Know responses when analyzed in the traditional way, assuming that the response types are mutually exclusive. Data were also analyzed using the Yonelinas, et al. 1998 dual-process signal-detection model, for estimating recollection and familiarity while assuming that Remember and Know responses are independent. Analysis indicated significant enhancement of imageability for estimates of both recollection and familiarity. This was interpreted as meaning that imageability enhanced both item-specific and contextual information associated with studied words.