Analyses of the relationships between recognition accuracy and confidence ratings by subjective and nominal rates of old and new responses

Abstract

Three experiments investigated the effects of semantic and sensory information on the relationships between recognition accuracy and confidence ratings by comparing the calibration curves consisting of subjective rates of old and new responses with those consisting of nominal rates of old and new responses. In these experiments, college students (n=273) intentionally studied words, then received a recognition test and rated confidence in their recognition responses. To investigate the effects of semantic information on the calibration curves, the similarities between old and new items were varied. Experiments 1 (visual) and 2 (auditory) used the same presentation modality of study and test words. Experiment 3 used an auditory presentation of study words and visual presentation of test words. Analyses of the nominal responses showed poor or negative calibration curves by the semantic confusing as preceding results. In contrast, the analyses of the subjective responses revealed good calibration curves, if only either of semantic or sensory information could be available for recognition judgments. The present results indicate the importance of subjective analysis of recognition responses.