A similarity between weak normal memory and amnesia with two and eight choice word recognition: a signal detection analysis.

Two and eight choice recognition memory was compared in a group of normal individuals shortly after learning a list of words and seven days later. In addition to selecting the correct response, subjects were required to indicate the confidence of their choices. The results showed that eight choice recognition performance was differentially worse than two choice recognition at delayed compared to immediate test. These results were similar to some reported by Miller (1977) in which he compared recognition in dementing amnesics and controls at immediate test. While Miller interpreted his data in terms of a selective retrieval deficit in amnesics, our data suggests that both sets of results arise because Signal Detection Theory is applicable to recognition memory data. An additional result was that subjects felt they guessed correctly selected words more frequently after a delay.