Retrieval without recollection: An experimental analysis of source amnesia

Abstract

Clinical observations suggest that patients with organic memory disorders sometimes exhibit the phenomenon of source amnesia: retrieval of experimentally presented information without any recollection of the episode in which it was acquired. To investigate source amnesia experimentally, a paradigm was developed in which either of two experimenters read subjects statements about fictional characteristics of well-known and unknown people; retention of items and sources was tested after varying delays. In Experiment 1, a group of patients with severe memory disorders exhibited source amnesia frequently after retention intervals of just seconds or minutes: On nearly .40 of the trials that they retrieved a target item, patients failed to recollect that either of the sources had imparted it to them. Experiment 2 demonstrated that when normal subjects' level of item recall was equivalent to that of amnesics, they exhibited significantly less source amnesia: Normals rarely failed to recollect that a retrieved item derived from either of the two sources, although they often forgot which of the two experimenters was the correct source. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of normal and abnormal memory.