Response distribution as an explanation of the mirror effect.

Response distribution has recently been proposed as an explanation of the mirror effect in recognition memory. According to the proposal, participants presented with distinctive sets of items (e.g., low- and high-frequency words) vary their responses to give an equal number of positive responses (e.g., the sum of hits and false alarms) to each set. Four experiments tested this proposal. Two experiments showed that the mirror effect is present in the absence of distinctive sets of items. Two experiments showed that the mirror effects is present in the absence of response equalization. Wherever the response distribution hypothesis can be tested, it fails.