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    The effect of retention interval and target-decoy similarity on facial recognition : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1991) Rockel, Warren
    This research was an attempt to resolve the inconsistent results for the effect of delay interval on facial recognition. The theory tested was that the degree of target/decoy similarity may act either to enhance or to diminish the effect of delay primarily by influencing false alarm rates. The first experiment used a novel method to scale the 80 faces along the dimension of similarity. The results showed that the method used was reasonably successful in ordering the faces along the similarity dimension. It enabled the use of four sets of 20 faces as either low or high similarity decoy and target sets in a second experiment aimed at testing the proposed theory. It was predicted that high target/ decoy similarity would result in a greater effect of delay than low target/ decoy similarity. Six groups of 15 subjects completed a standard face recognition experiment which crossed 0, 1 and 21 days delay with high and low similarity target/ decoy sets. The results showed a main effect for similarity, but, surprisingly, no main effect for delay. Nor was there the predicted interaction between similarity and delay for false alarms. The failure of the second experiment to test adequately the theory, and reasons for failure are discussed, along with the importance of the link between similarity and delay.
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    The effect of photofit-type faces on recognition memory : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1989) LaMontagne, Hilary
    Two attempts were made to replicate the results of Ellis, Davies, and Shepherd (1978) who showed that the addition of simulated photofit lines and randomly placed lines on photographs of faces caused a decrease in recognition memory for those faces. In the first experiment, three groups of subjects were shown 20 slides each of faces with no lines, photofit-type lines or random lines. Immediately afterwards they were shown the same faces mixed with 20 distractors, their task being to indicate whether a face had been previously seen. The addition of lines had no statistically significant effects on memory. In the second study, the number of faces initially shown was increased from 20 to 35 and subjects had to identify the previously seen faces from a set of 70 faces either immediately or following a three week delay. Again, the addition of lines to the faces produced no significant decrements in recognition rates, but there was a main effect for delay. However, trends seen in the recognition measures used for both studies suggested that the addition of lines may have a small effect on recognition memory but not enough to always reach statistical significance in single studies. The implications of the results for the use of the photofit-kit in recognition memory studies are discussed.
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    Effects of a 50 Hz magnetic field on human visual duration discrimination and recognition memory : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1998) Abbott, Jeana D
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the direct and delayed effects of a sinusoidal 100 μ;T, 50 Hz intermittent magnetic field on human performance measures. Eighty participants (aged 19-53) completed the experiment which involved a visual duration discrimination task and a recognition memory task. Initially all participants completed the study phase of the recognition memory task in which 40 abstract shapes were presented in a random order. A two alternative forced choice visual duration discrimination task followed in which participants had to decide which of two consecutive light flashes was longer in duration. The duration discrimination task had only one hard level of difficulty over the 200 trials with a standard flash duration of 50 ms paired with an alternative hard flash duration of 65 ms. During the duration discrimination task, 40 participants were sham exposed while the remaining 40 were exposed to a 100 μT, 50 Hz magnetic field. Participants were randomly assigned to either the sham or exposure groups and the study was conducted under double-blind procedures. Reaction time and percentage of correct decisions were recorded during a total exposure time lasting approximately 11 minutes. The two alternative forced choice recognition memory testing phase was then conducted in which participants viewed 40 pairs of abstract shapes, each pair presented for six seconds. Participants had to decide which of the two shapes (left or right) they had previously seen during the study phase. In addition, participants had to rate their confidence in each of the 40 decisions on a four point rating scale (1 = very sure to 4 = unsure). Both percentage of correct decisions and confidence ratings were recorded for each participant Participants were only exposed to the magnetic field during the visual duration discrimination task. The results of an earlier investigation were unsupported as the present results found no field-effects between sham and exposure groups on both measures of reaction time and percentage of correct decisions during the visual duration discrimination task. However, a reduction in the percentage of correct decisions and confidence during the recognition memory task was observed for participants who had been previously exposed to a magnetic field. Differences in experimental parameters and insufficient power render comparisons with other human magnetic field studies impossible. The need for exact replication studies with maximum design sensitivity was discussed within the context of a research field that is to produce small effect sizes.
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    A detection theory investigation of sensitivity and bias in recognition memory : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey university
    (Massey University, 1999) Burgess, Jane M
    Within Signal Detection Theory (SDT) it is accepted that the measures of sensitivity and bias are independent of each other. However, the independence of bias and sensitivity with respect to an individual's behaviour is uncertain. In the current study two experiments were completed to investigate this question. In a Yes/No recognition memory task for words, eight participants each completed 27 blocks of 120 trials, presented and scored on a computer. Nine blocks were completed in Experiment 1 and 18 in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1 sensitivity was altered by means of changes in word imagery levels. Measures of sensitivity and response bias were obtained when participants were tested with either high, medium, or low imagery words. In Experiment 2 bias was manipulated by artificially weighting the consequences of correct and incorrect responses. Analysis of the results was undertaken using both parametric and nonparamertric SDT measures of sensitivity and bias. Analyses of variance showed that there were no statistically significant relationships between imagery level (an indirect measure of sensitivity) and response bias. However, a correlational analysis between the individual sensitivity measures and response bias indicated that, when there were no external biasing factors, response bias became less pronounced response bias as sensitivity increased. The study also indicated that participants' natural response biases tended to be conservative.
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    Effects of attractiveness, delay, and distinctiveness on face recognition : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1999) Barbour, Jennifer J
    This study investigated the effects of attractiveness and delay on facial recognition. Distinctiveness was also examined in a second experiment. It was hypothesised that faces that were rated highly attractive or unattractive would be more memorable over time. Furthermore, a positive relationship between attractiveness and distinctiveness was expected. In Experiment 1, 25 males and 25 females rated the facial attractiveness of 78 standardised photographs. These ratings were used to select three sets of 20 target faces for a standard facial recognition task, each set representing a different level of attractiveness: high, medium, and low. The recognition test was administered either 10 min or 28 days after the study phase, participants being randomly assigned to each combination of delay and attractiveness in 2 (Delay) × 3 (Attractiveness) between-groups design. There were main effects for both attractiveness and delay on recognition accuracy but the expected interaction between these two variables did not eventuate. Experiment 2 was conducted to examine the relationship between attractiveness and distinctiveness ratings. A further 25 males and 25 females rated the facial distinctiveness of the 78 photographs used in Experiment 1. A strong curvilinear relationship was shown to exist between attractiveness and distinctiveness with the least attractive faces being rated the most distinctive and the moderately attractive faces the least distinctive. On the basis of the present results taken in conjunction with previous findings, it was concluded that facial distinctiveness is a major variable in face recognition studies.
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    The effects of age, memory load, and stimulus type on facial recognition : thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Lamont, Allison
    An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of age, memory load, and stimulus type on facial recognition. As these three factors have been implicated as important determinants in facial recognition (see Bäckman, 1991; Fulton & Bartlett, 1991; Shapiro & Penrod, 1986), the potential interactive role of these variables was examined. Thirty-two young and 64 older adults completed a facial recognition task to determine whether there were differences in recognition memory for three factors. The between-groups factors included the age of the participant (<40, 60 – 75, and >75) and memory load (low vs. high). The within-group factor was the stimulus face type (young vs. old). Participants saw 20 or 40 stimulus faces and then immediately attempted to recognise these faces when they were randomly mixed with an equal number of distractor faces in a single-interval, forced choice task. Signal detection analyses indicated that facial recognition accuracy declined with age. Older adults showed consistently poorer recognition than young adults. A main effect for memory load emerged. Performance decrements accompanied increased memory load but as all age groups were similarly affected, memory load did not interact with age. Neither did memory load interact with stimulus face type. In contrast to prior findings, stimulus face age affected only older adults who showed a marked deficit in the recognition of young stimulus faces. Young adults, however, were equally adept at recognising young and older stimulus faces. Differences between groups were not attributable to changes in response criterion, as all groups demonstrated similar levels of response bias. Results were discussed in terms of the marked interaction between stimulus face age and participant age, and the methodological implications of the ways in which variables such as load, stimulus face age, and participant age can affect the outcome of facial recognition studies. Changes in performance were shown to be a real difference in recognition memory rather than being a tendency toward reporting faces as 'old' or 'new'.
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    Age differences in recognition memory : the effects of stimulus presentation mode, stimulus type, and trial difficulty : thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1998) Lithgow, Tania
    Forty young and 40 older adults completed a verbal and non-verbal recognition task to determine whether there were age differences in recognition memory for three factors. The between-group factors included the age of the participant (young vs. older) and the mode of stimulus presentation (one-alternative, forced choice vs. two-alternative, forced choice). The within-group factors were the type of stimulus (words vs. shapes) and the level of trial difficulty, as indicated by the degree of target-distractor similarity (similar vs. dissimilar). Signal detection analyses indicated that recognition accuracy declined with age. Older adults showed consistently poorer recognition than their younger counterparts. In contrast to the pictorial superiority effect, recognition accuracy was impaired across the lifespan for non-verbal as opposed to verbal stimuli. In accordance with previous studies, items that were high in target-distractor similarity were recognised at lower rates than items that were low in target-distractor similarity. When the two-alternative, forced choice data were transformed to d' and adjusted for comparison with the one-alternative, forced choice data, the effect of Presentation Mode disappeared. This result is in accordance with the predictions of signal detection theory. In addition to the main effects, a significant Stimulus Type x Trial Difficulty x Presentation Mode, and Presentation Mode x Age interaction emerged, which qualified the interpretation of the main effects.