The role of familiarity in implicit memory effects: The case of exemplar activation

The present study investigates how person-based representations stored in memory can influence subsequent information processing, depending upon subjective states during recollection of those representations. The experiment consisted of two phases. In the first phase, participants incidentally learned the gender category membership of various exemplars. Exemplars were presented in the form of forename-surname associations. In the second phase, the same surnames were used as primes in a name-completion task. Results showed that the influence of the primes di€ered in relation to the exemplars' status in memory, as assessed by a recognition memory task. Only when the surnames looked familiar, but were not identifiable, an implicit e€ect of the exemplars' original category membership emerged, selectively influencing gender congruent name-completions. Results are discussed in terms of attribution processes underlying the importance of the feelings of familiarity, and the need to devote more attention to the study of phenomenological factors in human memory.