Familiarity in source memory.

Familiarity and recollection are thought to be separate processes underlying recognition memory. Event-related potentials (ERPs) dissociate these processes, with an early (approximately 300-500ms) frontal effect relating to familiarity (the FN400) and a later (500-800ms) parietal old/new effect relating to recollection. It has been debated whether source information for a studied item (i.e., contextual associations from when the item was previously encountered) is only accessible through recollection, or whether familiarity can contribute to successful source recognition. It has been shown that familiarity can assist in perceptual source monitoring when the source attribute is an intrinsic property of the item (e.g., an object's surface color), but few studies have examined its contribution to recognizing extrinsic source associations. Extrinsic source associations were examined in three experiments involving memory judgments for pictures of common objects. In Experiment 1, source information was spatial and results suggested that familiarity contributed to accurate source recognition: the FN400 ERP component showed a source accuracy effect, and source accuracy was above chance for items judged to only feel familiar. Source information in Experiment 2 was an extrinsic color association; source accuracy was at chance for familiar items and the FN400 did not differ between correct and incorrect source judgments. Experiment 3 replicated the results using a within-subjects manipulation of spatial vs. color source. Overall, the results suggest that familiarity's contribution to extrinsic source monitoring depends on the type of source information being remembered.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes