Automatization and familiarity in repeated checking

Repetitive, compulsive-like checking of an object leads to reductions in memory confidence, vividness, and detail. Experimental research suggests that this is caused by increased familiarity with perceptual characteristics of the stimulus and automatization of the checking procedure (Dek, van den Hout, Giele, & Engelhard, 2014). This suggests that defamiliarization by modifying perceptual characteristics of the stimulus will result in de-automatization and attenuation of the meta-memory effects. However, this was not found (Dek et al., 2014), but the manipulation may have been too weak. In two experiments, the present investigation examined whether modification of the defamiliarization procedure (i.e., enlarging the amount of color alterations of the stimuli) would result in de-automatization and attenuation of the metamemory effects. Undergraduates performed a checking task, in which they activated, de-activated, and checked stimuli. Meta-memory was rated after a pre- and post-test checking trial. Simultaneously, automatization of checking was measured with a reaction time task during the pre- and post-test checking trial. In the reaction time task participants responded as quickly as possible to tones. In both experiments, perseverative checking reduced memory confidence, vividness, and detail, and led to automatization of checking behavior. In Experiment I, moderate defamiliarization led to de-automatization, but did not attenuate meta-memory effects of checking. In Experiment II, strong defamiliarization did not lead to de-automatization, but did reduce the detrimental effects of re-checking on memory confidence and vividness. This research suggests that automatization is a potential mechanism underlying the paradoxical phenomenon of perseveration leading to memory uncertainty.