Relation of perceptual fluency with metamemory judgments and recognition memory

Abstract

Previous research has shown that perceptual fluency differentially affects metamemory judgments and actual recognition performance. In this sense, the perceptual-fluency hypothesis asserts that fluent items are considered more memorable and are likely to receive higher metamemory judgments than disfluent items, which is replicated in multiple studies. Despite a demonstrated positive effect of perceptual fluency on metamemory judgments, the relationship between perceptual fluency and recognition memory performance is less clear. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to further investigate the distinctive effects of perceptual fluency on metamemory judgments and actual recognition performance for pictures. Respectively, in Experiment 1, subjects (n = 30) were presented with blurred or clear pictures and prompted with judgments of learning (JOLs) ratings at study, followed by a recognition test. In Experiment 2, our main focus was on the direct association between perceptual fluency and actual recognition performance. Hence, the second experiment was similar to the first one except subjects (n = 48) were not prompted with JOLs and multiple sources of manipulations (blurriness and inversion) were implemented to induce perceptual disfluency. The results showed that neither metamemory judgments nor actual recognition performance significantly differed in response to perceptual fluency. Thus, in contrast to many other studies, the current study failed to support the perceptual fluency hypothesis even though our results about actual recognition performance aligned with past research.