PROCESS DISSOCIATION, SINGLE-PROCESS THEORIES, AND RECOGNITION MEMORY

According to the assumptions of L. L. Jacoby's (1991) process dissocia tion method, performance in recognition memory is determined by the co mbination of an unconscious familiarity process and a conscious intent ional recollection process. The process dissociation method is used to produce estimates of the contributions of the 2 components to recogni tion performance. This article investigates whether the method provide s the correct estimates of components if performance actually depends on only a single process or on 2 processes different from those assume d by the method. The SAM model (G. Gillund & R. M. Shiffrin, 1984) was used to produce simulated data based on a single process. Variants of SAM with 2 processes and R. C. Atkinson and J. F. Juola's (1973) 2-pr ocess model were used to produce data based on 2 processes.