Critical testing in recognition memory: Selective influence, single-item generalization, and the high-threshold hypothesis.

Abstract

In recent years, discussions comparing high-threshold and continuous accounts of recognition-memory judgments have increasingly turned their attention toward critical testing. One of the defining features of this approach is its requirement for the relationship between theoretical assumptions and predictions to be laid out in a transparent and precise way. One of the (fortunate) consequences of this requirement is that it encourages researchers to debate the merits of the different assumptions at play. The present work addresses a recent attempt to overturn the dismissal of high-threshold models by getting rid of a background selective-influence assumption. However, it can be shown that the contrast process proposed to explain this violation undermines a more general assumption that we dubbed "single-item generalization." We argue that the case for the dismissal of these assumptions and the claimed support for the proposed high-threshold contrast account does not stand the scrutiny of their theoretical properties and empirical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).