RECOGNITION MEMORY AND AWARENESS - A LARGE EFFECT OF STUDY TEST MODALITIES ON KNOW RESPONSES FOLLOWING A HIGHLY PERCEPTUAL ORIENTING TASK

Two experiments investigated the effects of varying the correspondence between presentation and test modes on states of conscious awareness in recognition memory. Experiment 1 used visual test items and showed that auditory and visual study modes differentially affected recollective experience and feelings of familiarity assessed by ''remember'' and ''know'' responses accompanying recognition: ''know'' responses were slightly enhanced following visual presentation, but this was largely offset by a similarly small increase in ''remember'' responses. Experiment 2 employed conditions designed to maximise any effect on ''know'' responses of the correspondence between presentation and test modes by using a highly perceptual orienting task at study. Under these conditions, there was a large mode correspondence effect on ''know'' responses. The results support the idea that ''know'' responses are particularly sensitive to perceptual factors.