Abstract
Recently, the finding of stochastic independence has been used to infer that the processes underlying recognition memory and priming effects are independent. Stochastic independence between recognition memory and priming occurs if the probability of a word being primed is the same whether or not that word was correctly recognized. This inference, however, is invalid if the measure of recognition influences the measure of priming. If such influences occur, stochastic independence may be obtained even when two measures are dependent. This paper outlines some of the methodological problems associated with the stochastic-independence measure and offers some solutions.
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I thank Larry Squire, Peter Graf, Daniel Schacter, and Thomas Nelson for helpful discussions of the issues presented in this paper.
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Shimamura, A.P. Problems with the finding of stochastic independence as evidence for multiple memory systems. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 23, 506–508 (1985). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329867
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329867