Modeling confidence and response time in recognition memory.

Full Abstract

A new model for confidence judgments in recognition memory is presented. In the model, the match between a single test item and memory produces a distribution of evidence, with better matches corresponding to distributions with higher means. On this match dimension, confidence criteria are placed, and the areas between the criteria under the distribution are used as drift rates to drive racing Ornstein-Uhlenbeck diffusion processes. The model is fit to confidence judgments and quantile response times from two recognition memory experiments that manipulated word frequency and speed versus accuracy emphasis. The model and data show that the standard signal detection interpretation of z-transformed receiver operating characteristic (z-ROC) functions is wrong. The model also explains sequential effects in which the slope of the z-ROC function changes by about 10% as a function of the prior response in the test list.

Author information

Author/s: Ratcliff, Roger (R); Starns, Jeffrey J (JJ);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.

Grants: R01 AG017083-07 (Agency:NIA NIH HHS) ; R01 AG017083-08 (Agency:NIA NIH HHS) ; R01-AG17083 (Agency:NIA NIH HHS) ; R37 MH044640-18 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R37 MH044640-19 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R37-MH44640 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Psychological review (Psychol Rev), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jan; vol 116 (issue 1) : pp 59-83

Dates: Created 2009/01/22; Completed 2009/03/23; Revised 2009/06/11;

PMID: 19159148, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/12/2009, IMS Date: 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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