Using the cue elimination technique to derive an equation between performance in episodic tests

Summary, in English

Lawful equations describing relations between empirical measurable variables, that are free of fitted parameters, and that can be derived from simple assumptions, are rare in psychology. However, this paper proposes one such equation that describes the relation between the performances on four different explicit episodic memory tests: free recall, cued recall, recognition, and cued recognition. The performance on each test is determined by the strength of three different and independent cues: the event cue, the context cue, and the target cue. The Cue Elimination Technique (CET) is introduced where cues are eliminated so that equations can be rewritten so that performance on three tests can be used to predict performance on the fourth test. Results from five conditions show a nonsignificant deviation between the predicted and the empirical probabilities of retrieval. Two estimates of each cue strength, which are based on different data sets, can be made so that the cue strengths can be empirically validated. Manipulations of psychological variables produce meaningful effect on the cue strengths so that CET can be used to dissociate cue strengths in episodic memory.

• Author: Sverker Sikström; Lars-Göran Nilsson
• Department/s: Cognitive Science
• Publishing year: 2004
• Language: English
• Pages: 481-510
• Publication/Series: European Journal of Cognitive Psychology
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 4
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09541440340000259
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Topic: Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)
• Keywords: cue elimination technique (CET)
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1464-0635