The Influence of Averaging and Noisy Decision Strategies on the Recognition Memory ROC

Many single- and dual-process models of recognition memory predict that the ratings and remember-know receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) are the same, but Rotello, Macmillan, and Reeder (2004) reported that the slopes of the remember-know and ratingsz-transformed ROCs (zROCs) are different. The authors show that averaging introduces nonlinearities to the form of thezROC and that ratings and remember-knowzROCs are indistinguishable when constructed in a conventional manner. The authors show, further, that some nonoptimal decision strategies have a distinctive, nonlinear effect on the form of the single-process continuous-statezROC. The conclusion is that many factors having nothing to do with the nature of recognition memory can affect the shape ofzROCs, and that therefore, the shape of thezROC does not, alone, characterize different memory models