Dual-process account of category access: general initial facilitation plus accumulating inhibition determined by the number of prior retrievals¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article proposes that two opposing processes operate during retrieval from semantic memory categories: a general initial facilitation (category "warm up") that speeds early retrievals, and a compounding inhibition that grows with each successive retrieval effort. The inhibition is assumed to be item dependent and to accrue through both explicit (correct output) and implicit (incorrect, rejected) retrievals, so low-frequency exemplars, which invite more implicit retrievals, build inhibition faster. This account is offered to reconcile Loftus's finding of decreasing latencies with Brown's finding of increasing latencies across successive retrievals.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Successive retrievals from the same conceptual category so that inhibition can accumulate across positions
• Variation in exemplar frequency/associative strength to observe differential inhibition buildup

Constraints¶

• The inhibition account rests on the assumption that subjects make more implicit retrievals for low-frequency exemplars; the error-based interaction supporting this fell short of significance (p = .056)
• A spreading activation view also predicts faster retrieval after high-frequency prior items, though the article argues it cannot account for the frequency-level slope differences

Target Learners¶

• adult students in introductory psychology courses

Target Learning Objectives¶

• retrieval of exemplars from semantic memory categories

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Information Processing Theory
• Elaborative Retrieval Account

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Brown, Alan S.; Cattoi, Robert. (1982). Associative Strength Effects in Semantic Priming. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED223979