RETRIEVAL CONSTRAINTS AND THE MIRROR EFFECT

Six experiments tested the hypothesis that the mirror effect in recogn ition memory reflects a deliberate, postretrieval assessment of the te st item's memorability. Both word frequency and concreteness were vari ed, and constraints at retrieval were manipulated in 2 ways: Three exp eriments compared recognition tested either alone or while performing a secondary task, and 3 experiments used the response-signal method to control recognition processing time. Contrary to the hypothesis, the mirror effect was not eliminated or attenuated by either kind of retri eval constraint. Moreover, both retrieval manipulations induced mirror effects of their own. Current recognition-memory theories appear inad equate to explain the results. It is suggested that the mirror effect be related to the full range of patterns of hits and false alarms, and that these 2 measures routinely be supplemented by measures of discri minability and bias.