ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews empirical data demonstrating that the assumption introduced in the Search of Associative Memory (SAM) model and the Retrieving Effectively from Memory (REM) models, termed differentiation is a fundamental mechanism of memory. Although the differentiation models continue to be the dominant class of process models of episodic memory. The core assumption shared by global matching models (GMMs) is that a memory cue consisting of context and item information is matched to the full contents of memory. The first empirical reports focused on the strength-based mirror effect (SBME) were published contemporaneously with the differentiation models and the finding was attributed to a criterion shift, which, at the time, was the only viable option from a GMM perspective. To further advance theoretical development, detailed mechanisms for criterion shifts should be elucidated for testing against the explicitly described differentiation models.
