Effects of recollection and familiarity on recognition memory in the Concealed Information Test

Abstract

The effects of recollection and familiarity on recognition memory in the Concealed Information Test (CIT) were investigated. In the learning phase, participants encoded 20 words that were presented in one of four frames on a personal computer screen. Next, in the recognition test, the participants were divided into "Remember judgment (Recollection)" or "Know judgment (Familiarity)" groups, based on their Remember/Know judgment when recognizing learned items. In the CIT phase, physiological responses to questions about learned (i.e., critical) and non-learned (i.e., non-critical) items were measured and recorded. The results indicated that there was a deceleration of respiration speed (RS), an increase in skin conductance response (SCR), and a drop in heart rate in responses to critical items for both groups. Furthermore, the effect sizes of RS and SCR were greater in the "Remember judgment" group compared to the "Know judgment" group. These results suggest that critical response patterns are generated by recollection and familiarity. However, the more vividly participants recognized critical items the larger were the magnitudes of RS and SCR response patterns.