Independent Recollection/Familiarity Ratings Can Dissociate: Evidence From the Effects of Test Context on Recognition of Event Details

Bodner and Richardson-Champion (2007) found a dissociative effect of test context on binary remember/know judgments about a critical set of details from a film sequence. Details of medium difficulty were more likely to be judged "recollected" when preceded by a set of difficult details than a set of easy details, but were similarly likely to be judged "familiar." Using the same paradigm, we replicated this dissociation when participants independently rated recollection and familiarity. Our finding represents the first evidence that independent recollection/familiarity ratings can be dissociated. In contrast, previous studies using independent ratings have yielded parallel effects of variables that produce dissociative effects with binary judgments. Our discussion considers potential causes of this dissociation, whether test context influenced discrimination or response bias, and implications for interpreting subjective recognition experiences. Demonstrations that test context can affect recollection reports also have implications for designing and conducting eyewitness interviews.