THE SENSORY MATCH EFFECT IN RECOGNITION MEMORY - PERCEPTUAL FLUENCY OR EPISODIC TRACE

The sensory match effect in recognition memory refers to the finding t hat recognition is better when the sensory form in which an item is te sted is the same as that in which it was studied. This paper examines the basis for the sensory match effect by manipulating whether a studi ed fragmented picture is tested with the same or a complementary set o f fragments in a recognition memory test (Experiment 1) and in a fragm ent-identification test (Experiment 2). Assuming that fragment identif ication is a direct measure of perceptual fluency, we expected identic al patterns of results across the two tests if perceptual fluency acco unted for the sensory match effect in recognition memory. Instead, rec ognition memory showed a robust overall sensory match effect (the same fragmented image was recognized better than the complementary image), whereas fragment identification showed no overall sensory match effec t (the same fragmented image was identified no better than the complem entary fragmented image). Experiments 3 and 4 combined the two respons es and showed that the basis for the sensory match effect in recogniti on memory was a subject's ability to recognize the matching fragments in the absence of conceptual information (when the test stimulus could not be identified), supporting the idea that the episodic trace of th e sensory code is responsible for the sensory match effect in recognit ion memory. Experiment 5 demonstrated that subjects are able to use th is sensory code as the sole basis for recognition memory.