Question format shifts bias away from the emphasised response in tests of recognition memory

• Published in: Consciousness and cognition Vol. 30; pp. 91 - 104
• Main Authors: Mill, Ravi D., O’Connor, Akira R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.11.2014; Elsevier; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Cognitive psychology; Decision-making; Episodic memory; Evaluation; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Goal-directed cognition; Human; Humans; Learning. Memory; Male; Memory; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall - physiology; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests - standards; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics - standards; Recognition; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Response bias; Young Adult; Decision-making; Response bias; Evaluation; Goal-directed cognition; Episodic memory; Recognition; Human; Recognition memory; Decision making; Goal pursuit; Cognition; Experimental study; Goal
• ISSN: 1053-8100; 1090-2376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.09.006

•The format of the question that prompts an interrogation of memory biases the decisions made.•Varying the question between “old?” and “new?” is sufficient to reveal this bias.•The direction of bias reduces the likelihood of endorsing the emphasised decision.•The bias is attenuated under high memory strength and is goal-driven.•The results highlight the close coupling of memory-specific and strategic processes. The question asked to interrogate memory has potential to influence response bias at retrieval, yet has not been systematically investigated. According to framing effects in the field of eyewitness testimony, retrieval cueing effects in cognitive psychology and the acquiescence bias in questionnaire responding, the question should establish a confirmatory bias. Conversely, according to findings from the rewarded decision-making literature involving mixed incentives, the question should establish a disconfirmatory bias. Across three experiments (ns=90 [online], 29 [laboratory] and 29 [laboratory]) we demonstrate a disconfirmatory bias – “old?” decreased old responding. This bias is underpinned by a goal-driven mechanism wherein participants seek to maximise emphasised response accuracy at the expense of frequency. Moreover, we demonstrate that disconfirmatory biases can be generated without explicit reference to the goal state. We conclude that subtle aspects of the test environment influence retrieval to a greater extent than has been previously considered.