Department of Psychology.
College of Education, Psychology and Social Work.
Can J Exp Psychol. 2022 Sep;76(3):186-192. doi: 10.1037/cep0000283. Epub 2022 May 12.
Pupil dilation provides a window into recognition memory processes. During a recognition test, the pupil dilates more in response to a recognized studied item than to a correctly rejected new item. Various explanations for this have been offered. By a retrieval effort account, the pupil's response on a recognition test reflects the cognitive effort needed to retrieve items from memory. By a memory strength account, pupil dilation reflects the strength of the subjective memory experience elicited by items at test. To compare these accounts, we varied levels of processing (LOP) at study, then measured pupil dilation on a delayed recognition test during which participants made recollection/familiarity judgements. Pupil dilation at test was similar whether test items had been studied in a deep or shallow LOP task, but was greater when deep, shallow, and new test items were experienced as recollected rather than as familiar. This pattern supports the memory strength account rather than the retrieval effort account of pupil dilation during a recognition test. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
瞳孔扩张为识别记忆过程提供了一个窗口。在识别测试中，瞳孔对被识别的学习项目的扩张比正确拒绝的新项目更大。对于这种现象，已经提出了各种解释。根据检索努力理论，瞳孔在识别测试中的反应反映了从记忆中检索项目所需的认知努力。根据记忆强度理论，瞳孔扩张反映了在测试时由项目引起的主观记忆体验的强度。为了比较这些解释，我们在学习时改变了加工水平（LOP），然后在延迟识别测试中测量瞳孔扩张，参与者在测试中做出回忆/熟悉判断。在测试中，无论测试项目是在深度还是浅度 LOP 任务中学习，瞳孔扩张都是相似的，但当深度、浅度和新的测试项目被体验为回忆而不是熟悉时，瞳孔扩张会更大。这种模式支持记忆强度理论，而不是识别测试中瞳孔扩张的检索努力理论。
