A Hippocampal Model of Recognition Memory

A rich body of data exists showing that recollection of specific information makes an important contribution to recognition memory, which is distinct from the contribution of familiarity, and is not adequately captured by existing unitary memory models. Furthennore, neuropsychological evidence indicates that recollection is sub served by the hippocampus. We present a model, based largely on known features of hippocampal anatomy and physiology, that accounts for the following key characteristics of recollection: 1) false recollection is rare (i.e., participants rarely claim to recollect having studied nonstudied items), and 2) increasing interference leads to less recollection but apparently does not compromise the quality of recollection (i.e., the extent to which recollected infonnation veridically reflects events that occurred at study).