RECOLLECTION AND FAMILIARITY DEFICITS IN AMNESIA - CONVERGENCE OF REMEMBER-KNOW, PROCESS DISSOCIATION, AND RECEIVER OPERATING CHARACTERISTIC DATA

Previous studies using the process dissociation and the remember-know procedures led to conflicting conclusions regarding the effects of ant erograde amnesia on recollection and familiarity. We argue that these apparent contradictions arose because different models were used to in terpret the results and because differences in false alarm rates betwe en groups biased the estimates provided by those models. A reanalysis of those studies with a dual-process signal-detection model that incor porates response bias revealed that amnesia led to a pronounced reduct ion in recollection and smaller but consistent reduction in familiarit y. To test the assumptions of the model and to further assess recognit ion deficits in amnesics, we examined receiver operating characteristi cs (ROCs) in amnesics and controls. The ROCs of the controls were curv ed and asymmetrical, whereas those of the amnesics were curved and sym metrical. The results supported the predictions of the model and indic ated that amnesia was associated with deficits in both recollection an d familiarity.