Item identifications following varying study trials on a multiple-item recognition learning task

In a study with 144 university students, individual items were tested for old-new and right-wrong identifications following 1, 2, or 4 study trials on a multiple-item recognition learning task. The hit rate for old item identifications was greater for right items than for wrong items, and the hit rate for both kinds of items increased progressively with increasing study trials. However, the expected between item type (right vs wrong) * Study Trials interaction was not found. The hit rate for identifying the prior correctness of right items increased progressively across trials, and the false-alarm rate for misidentifying prior wrong items as right decreased progressively across trials. The pattern found for functional identifications suggests that frequency cues may be supplemented by other kinds of cues that enhance identifications of items in terms of their prior study list functions.