Abstract
The recognition heuristic uses a recognition decision to make an inference about an unknown variable in the world. Theories of recognition memory typically use a signal detection framework to predict this binary recognition decision. In this article, I integrate the recognition heuristic with signal detection theory to formally investigate how judges use their recognition memory to make inferences. The analysis reveals that false alarms and misses systematically influence the performance of the recognition heuristic. Furthermore, judges should adjust their recognition response criterion according to their experience with the environment to exploit the structure of information in it. Finally, the less-is-more effect is found to depend on the distribution of cue knowledge and judges’ sensitivity to the difference between experienced and novel items. Theoretical implications of this bridge between the recognition heuristic and models of recognition memory are discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Axelrod, R. (1985).The evolution of cooperation. New York: Basic Books.
Banks, W. P. (1970). Signal detection theory and human memory.Psychological Bulletin,74, 8199.
Borges, B., Goldstein, D. G., Ortmann, A., &Gigerenzer, G. (1999). Can ignorance beat the stock market? In G. Gigerenzer, P. M. Todd, & the ABC Research Group (Eds.),Simple heuristics that make us smart (pp. 59–72). New York: Oxford University Press.
Bröder, A. (2000). Assessing the empirical validity of the “take-thebest” heuristic as a model of human probabilistic inference.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,26, 1332–1346.
Bröder, A. (2003). Decision making with the “adaptive toolbox”: Influence of environmental structure, intelligence, and working memory load.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,29, 611–625.
Bröder, A., &Eichler, A. (2006). The use of recognition information and additional cues in inferences from memory.Acta Psychologica,121, 275–284.
Brunswik, E. (1955). Representative design and probabilistic theory in a functional psychology.Psychological Review,50, 255–272.
Craik, F. I. M., &McDowd, J. M. (1987). Age-differences in recall and recognition.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 474–479.
Dhami, M. K., Hertwig, R., &Hoffrage, U. (2004). The role of representative design in an ecological approach to cognition.Psychological Bulletin,130, 959–988.
Dougherty, M. R. P., Franco-Watkins, A. M., & Thomas, R. (in press). The psychological plausibility of the theory of probabilistic mental models and the fast and frugal heuristics.Psychological Review.
Dougherty, M. R. P., Gettys, C. F., &Ogden, E. E. (1999). MINERVADMA memory processes model for judgments of likelihood. Psychological Review,106, 180–209.
Gigerenzer, G. (2001). The adaptive toolbox. In G. Gigerenzer & R. Selten (Eds.),Bounded rationality (pp. 37–50). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gigerenzer, G. (2004). Fast and frugal heuristics: The tools of bounded rationality. In D. J. Koehler & N. Harvey (Eds.),Blackwell handbook of judgment and decision making (pp. 62–88). Oxford: Blackwell.
Gigerenzer, G., &Goldstein, D. G. (1996). Reasoning the fast and frugal way: Models of bounded rationality.Psychological Review,103, 650–669.
Gigerenzer, G., &Goldstein, D. G. (1999). Betting on one good reason: Take the best heuristic. In G. Gigerenzer, P. M. Todd, & the ABC Research Group (Eds.),Simple heuristics that make us smart (pp. 75–96). New York: Oxford University Press.
Gigerenzer, G., Hoffrage, U., &Kleinbölting, H. (1991). Probabilistic mental models: A Brunswikian theory of confidence.Psychological Review,98, 506–528.
Gigerenzer, G., Todd, P. M., & theABC Research Group (1999).Simple heuristics that make us smart. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gillund, G., &Shiffrin, R. M. (1984). A retrieval model for both recognition and recall.Psychological Review,91, 1–67.
Glanzer, M., &Adams, J. K. (1985). The mirror effect in recognition memory.Memory & Cognition,13, 8–20.
Glanzer, M., Adams, J. K., Iverson, G. J., &Kim, K. (1993). The regularities of recognition memory.Psychological Review,100, 546–567.
Goldstein, D. G., &Gigerenzer, G. (1999). The recognition heuristic: How ignorance makes us smart. In G. Gigerenzer, P. M. Todd, & the ABC Research Group (Eds.),Simple heuristics that make us smart (pp. 37–58). New York: Oxford University Press.
Goldstein, D. G., &Gigerenzer, G. (2002). Models of ecological rationality: The recognition heuristic.Psychological Review,109, 75–90.
Gonzalez, R., &Nelson, T. O. (1996). Measuring ordinal association in situations that contain tied scores.Psychological Bulletin,119, 159–165.
Gronlund, S. D., Ohrt, D. D., Dougherty, M. R. P., Perry, J. L., &Manning, C. A. (1998). Role of memory in air traffic control.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,4, 263–280.
Hintzman, D. L. (1988). Judgments of frequency and recognition memory in a multiple-trace memory model.Psychological Review,95, 528–551.
Hirshman, E. (1995). Decision processes in recognition memory: Criterion shifts and the list-strength paradigm.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,21, 302–313.
Jacoby, L. L., Woloshyn, V., &Kelley, C. (1989). Becoming famous without being recognized: Unconscious influences of memory produced by dividing attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,118, 115–125.
Lee, M. D., &Cummins, T. D. R. (2004). Evidence accumulation in decision making: Unifying the “take the best” and the “rational” models.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,11, 343–352.
Murdock, B. B. (1997). Context and mediators in a theory of distributed associative memory (TODAM2).Psychological Review,104, 839–862.
Nelson, T. O. (2003). Relevance of unjustified strong assumptions when utilizing signal detection theory.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,26, 351.
Newell, B. R., &Shanks, D. R. (2003). Take the best or look at the rest? Factors influencing “one-reason” decision making.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,29, 53–65.
Newell, B. R., &Shanks, D. R. (2004). On the role of recognition in decision making.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,30, 923–935.
Oppenheimer, D. M. (2003). Not so fast! (and not so frugal!): Rethinking the recognition heuristic.Cognition,90, B1-B9.
Pachur, T., &Hertwig, R. (2006). On the psychology of the recognition heuristic: Retrieval primacy as a key determinant of its use.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,32, 983–1002.
Pohl, R. F. (2006). Empirical tests of the recognition heuristic.Journal of Behavioral Decision Making,19, 251–271.
Raaijmakers, J. G. W., &Shiffrin, R. M. (2002). Models of memory. In H. Pashler & D. Medin (Eds.),Stevens’ Handbook of experimental psychology: Vol 2. Memory and cognitive processes (3rd ed., pp. 43–76). New York: Wiley.
Ratcliff, R., Clark, S. E., &Shiffrin, R. M. (1990). List-strength effect: Data and discussion.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,16, 163–178.
Ratcliff, R., Gronlund, S. D., &Sheu, C. F. (1992). Testing global memory models using ROC curves.Psychological Review,99, 518–535.
Richter, T., &Spath, P. (2006). Recognition is used as one cue among others in judgment and decision making.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,32, 150–162.
Schooler, L. J., &Hertwig, R. (2005). How forgetting aids heuristic inference.Psychological Review,112, 610–628.
Shepard, R. N. (1967). Recognition memory for words, sentences, and pictures.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,6, 156–163.
Shiffrin, R. M., Huber, D. E., &Marinelli, K. (1995). Effects of category length and strength on familiarity in recognition.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,21, 267–287.
Shiffrin, R. M., &Steyvers, M. (1997). A model for recognition memory: REM-retrieving effectively from memory.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,4, 145–166.
Simon, H. A. (1956). Rational choice and the structure of the environment.Psychological Review,63, 129–138.
Simon, H. A. (1990). Invariants of human behavior.Annual Review of Psychology,41, 1–19.
Slegers, D. W., Brake, G. L., &Doherty, M. E. (2000). Probabilistic mental models with continuous predictors.Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes,81, 98–114.
Snook, B., &Cullen, R. M. (2006). Recognizing national hockey league greatness with an ignorance-based heuristic.Canadian Journal of Psychology,60, 33–43.
Standing, L. (1973). Learning 10,000 pictures.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,25, 207–222.
Volz, K. G., Schooler, L., Schubotz, R. I., Raab, M., Gigerenzer, G., &von Cramon, D. Y. (2006). Why you think Milan is larger than Modena: Neural correlates of the recognition heuristic.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,18, 1924–1936.
Wallsten, T. S. (1996). An analysis of judgment research analyses.Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes,65, 220–226.
Wallsten, T. S., Erev, I., &Budescu, D. V. (2000). The importance of theory: Response to Brenner (2000).Psychological Review,107, 947–949.
Wickens, T. D. (2002).Elementary signal detection theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article has benefited greatly from the editing skills of Laura Wiles. This material was presented as a poster at the Society for Judgment and Decision Making’s 2005 annual meeting in Toronto.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pleskac, T.J. A signal detection analysis of the recognition heuristic. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14, 379–391 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194081
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194081