Judgment heuristics and recognition memory: Prime identification and target-processing fluency

In three experiments, the effect of identification of a briefly presented w ord (prime) on a subsequent recognition response to that word (target) was investigated. Theories of current processing fluency (e.g., Jacoby & Whiteh ouse, 1989) suggest that prime identification should reduce P(old) relative to prime misidentification because awareness of the prime provides a sourc e to which to attribute target fluency, rendering attributions to prior pre sentation less likely. However, counter to these predictions, Experiment 1 demonstrated that prime identification increased P(old) relative to misiden tified primes. It is hypothesized that this reversed effect was due to part icipants' using a heuristic that related prime identification success to pr ior presentation but was not based on current processing fluency. In Experi ment 2, participants were induced to avoid using this heuristic by making a n alternate source for prime identification success (display duration) high ly available. Under these circumstances, prime identification reduced P(old ) relative to prime misidentification, suggesting that participants now rel ied on current processing fluency rather than on prime identification succe ss. Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiments 1 and 2, but with fi xed rather than variable prime displays.