The role of familiarity in implicit memory effects: the case of exemplar activation

The present study investigates how person-based representations stored in m emory can influence subsequent information processing, depending upon subje ctive states during recollection of those representations. The experiment c onsisted of two phases. In the first phase, participants incidentally learn ed the gender category membership of various exemplars. Exemplars were pres ented in the form of forename-surname associations. In the second phase, th e same surnames were used as primes in a name-completion task. Results show ed that the influence of the primes differed in relation to the exemplars' status in memory, as assessed by a recognition memory task. Only, when the surnames looked familiar, but were not identifiable, an implicit effect of the exemplars' original category membership emerged, selectively influencin g gender congruent name-completions. Results are discussed in terms of attr ibution processes underlying the importance of the feelings of familiarity, and the need to devote more attention to the study of phenomenological fac tors in human memory. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.