Abstract
The counter model for perceptual identification (Ratcliff & McKoon, 1997) differs from alternative views of word recognition in two important ways. First, it assumes that prior study of a word does not result in increased sensitivity but, rather, inbias. Second, the effects of word frequency and prior study are explained by different mechanisms. In the present experiment, study status and word frequency of target and foil were varied independently. Using a forced-choice task, we replicated the bias effect. However, we also found several interactions between frequency and prior study that are in direct conflict with the counter model. Most important, prior study ofboth alternatives resulted in an attenuation of the frequency effect and an increase in performance for low-frequency targets, but not for high-frequency targets. These findings suggest that the effects of frequency and prior study are not mediated by completely independent mechanisms.
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R.Z. was supported by a grant from the Foundation for Behavioral and Social Sciences of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. We thank Roger Ratcliff and Gail McKoon for providing us with the instructions used in their experiments on perceptual forced choice. We thank Noortje Jansen, Han van der Maas, Sander Nieuwenhuis, Diane Pecher, and Richard Shiffrin for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We also thank Geertje Hagedoorn, Chris Leuris, Arnout Koornneef, and Diana Schuitemaker for their help in testing subjects and selecting stimulus materials.
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Wagenmakers, EJ.M., Zeelenberg, R. & Raaijmakers, J.G.W. Testing the counter model for perceptual identification: Effects of repetition priming and word frequency. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 7, 662–667 (2000). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213004
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213004