RESPONSE LATENCY AND RESPONSE ACCURACY AS MEASURES OF MEMORY * Cohn

The relationship is examined between response accuracy and response latency as measures of memory, and questions are raised concerning the value of the unidimensionality assumption often invoked in theories of memory. Three paired-associate experiments investigated the effects of the length of the retention interval, the kind of processing during incidental learning. and the number of study versus test trials during intentional learning. The findings. together with a review of selected studies in the literature. support three conclusions: (1) Latency of correct recall is not necessarily more sensitive than accuracy. (2) accuracy and latency of correct recall measure different aspects of memory, and (3) latency of correct recall and latency of incorrect recall measure different aspects of memory. The available data disconfirm the idea that any unidimensional construct (such as strength or the amount of information in memory) underlies memory performance. An explanation is offered that emphasizes the distinctlon between encoding and retrieval processes.