The attribution of perceptual fluency in recognition memory: the role of expectation Deanne L. Westerman, * Marianne E. Lloyd, and Jeremy K. Miller Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA Received 27 February 2002; revision received 2 July 2002 Abstract Three experiments investigate whether the influence of perceptual fluency on recognition memory de- pends on a perceptual match between study and test. The perceptual fluency of recognition test items was enhanced by briefly presenting a prime that matched the subsequent test item. Enhanced perceptual fluency increased positive recognition responses when the study and test were in the same sensory modality but not when the study and test were in different modalities. This interaction occurred only when modality was manipulated between subjects; when modality was manipulated within subjects, enhanced perceptual fluency increased positive recognition responses to all test items. An interaction between modality and perceptual fluency was also found using ‘‘counterfeit’’ study lists. The results suggest that the use of perceptual fluency as a heuristic in recognition memory depends on whether it is perceived as relevant to the recognition decision. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been devoted to trying to understand the processes that underlie recognition memory. One topic that has emerged as central to our understanding of this topic is the concept of familiarity. All current theories of recognition memory incorporate a mechanism by which the familiarity of a stimulus is assessed, with greater levels of familiarity in- creasing the probability that a stimulus will be judged as old (previously experienced). Although theories of recognition differ in the manner in which familiarity is assessed and in the degree to which it contributes to the recognition decision, the importance of the concept of familiarity to theories of recognition memory is unequivocal (e.g., Estes, 1994; Gillund & Shiffrin, 1984; Hintzman, 1988; Jacoby, 1991; Mandler, 1980). According to many models of recognition memory, the familiarity of a stimulus is a function of the degree to which that stimulus matches previously stored memory representations, with a greater degree of match leading to a greater as- sessed level of familiarity (see Clark & Gronlund, 1996, for a review of such models). However, it has also been shown that a sense of familiarity can arise due to the way in which a stimulus is pro- cessed on a recognition test, regardless of the match to previously stored memory representa- tions. For instance, numerous experiments have demonstrated that a subjective sense of familiarity depends on the speed and ease with which it is perceived on a recognition test (e.g., Jacoby & Whitehouse, 1989; Whittlesea, 1993; Whittlesea, Jacoby, & Girard, 1990). The speed and ease of perception—commonly referred to as perceptual Journal of Memory and Language 47 (2002) 607–617 www.academicpress.com Journal of Memory and Language * Corresponding author. Fax: +607-777-4890. E-mail address: wester@binghamton.edu (D.L. Wes- terman). 0749-596X/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. PII:S0749-596X(02)00022-0