The identification of novel three-dimensional objects : an examination of structurally based fluency
Date
1994
Authors
Burak, Arloene Linda
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Abstract
Various dissociations between performance on explicit tasks (those requiring conscious memory) and implicit tasks (those requiring no reference to conscious memory) have been used as support for the existence of multiple systems of memory. Specifically, based on a dissociation between performance on an object decision task and a recognition task, Schacter and Tulving (1990) postulated the existence of a separate system representing possible novel three-dimensional objects as distinct from a system supporting the identification of impossible novel three-dimensional objects. Memory may be better understood in the view of transfer appropriate processing, however, in which memory relies in part on a fluency heuristic and that subjective processes influence memory. Experiment 1 eliminated the influence of a response bias toward structural "possibility" by involving a decision in which possible and impossible objects were classified together as three-dimensional objects, as distinct from two-dimensional objects. Both possible objects and impossible objects benefited equally from previous exposure. Experiment 2 employed a "go-no/go" task but was unsuccessful in manipulating the response bias in order to create an advantage for identification of studied impossible objects. These results have suggested that by eliminating the bias towards structural possibility, impossible objects benefit from experienced fluency. Further discussion of the process of memory has been provided.