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Many computational models of reasoning rely on explicit relation representations to account for human cognitive capacities such as analogical reasoning. Relational luring, a phenomenon observed in recognition memory, has been interpreted as evidence that explicit relation representations also impact episodic memory; however, this assumption has not been rigorously assessed by computational modeling. We implemented an established model of recognition memory, the Generalized Context Model (GCM), as a framework for simulating human performance on an old/new recognition task that elicits relational luring. Within this basic theoretical framework, we compared representations based on explicit relations, lexical semantics (i.e., individual word meanings), and a combination of the two. We compared the same alternative representations as predictors of accuracy in solving explicit verbal analogies. In accord with previous work, we found that explicit relation representations are necessary for modeling analogical reasoning. In contrast, preliminary simulations incorporating model parameters optimized to fit human data reproduce relational luring using any of the alternative representations, including one based on non-relational lexical semantics. Further work on model comparisons is needed to examine the contributions of lexical semantics and relations on the luring effect in recognition memory.
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This content will become publicly available on April 1, 2026
TRACE-ing fixations in the Visual World Paradigm: Extending linking hypotheses and addressing individual differences by simulating trial-level behavior
I review several alternative linking hypotheses for relating eye tracking data from the visual world paradigm (VWP) to cognitive theories and models. While some models are able to simulate VWP data surprisingly well (such as the TRACE model), there is still ample ambiguity to resolve in the meaning of fixation proportions over time, despite decades of work with the VWP. I also present a simple fixation model based on probabilistic sampling from an underlying lexical activation that allows simulation of individual trials. Unsurprisingly, a properly-parameterized sampling procedure approximates the underlying activation patterns when sufficient trials are averaged together. However, the utility of simulating trial-level behavior is not in reconstructing central tendencies (which can be derived directly without simulating fixations), but in addressing, for example, individual differences. I also discuss critiques and misunderstandings of linking models to the VWP, and analogies to a simpler paradigm – lexical decision – to illuminate the logic of linking hypotheses in the VWP.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2043903
- PAR ID:
- 10586644
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Brain Research
- Volume:
- 1856
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 0006-8993
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 149563
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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