AI models of reminding (ARCS, MAC/FAC) that predict that memory access is influenced by analogical similarity are tested. In Experiment 1, subjects initially studied a set of 12 target stories. Later, subjects read 10 other cue stories and were asked to write down the stories they were reminded of from the first set. Cue stories were associated with either an analogous and disanalogous target (competition condition), an analogous target (singleton condition), or a disanalogous target (singleton condition). An effect of analogical similarity was found only in the competition condition. Experiment 2 used the same design but targets and cues were simple subject-verb-object sentences. Cue sentences shared similar nouns and verbs with target sentences. Materials were constructed such that associated nouns either consistently mapped or cross-mapped between cues and targets. Consistent-mapped sentences were recalled more than cross-mapped sentences in both conditions. Issues for future research are addressed.

An important question for cognitive models of human memory is the question of how analogical similarity affects memory retrieval. While the importance of surface lexical and semantic similarities between reminding cues and memory targets has been well-documented, clear empirical evidence that human memory retrieval is influenced by analogy has proven difficult to demonstrate. W e report two experiments in which subjects used a series of single sentences as reminding cues for previously-seen mini-texts. Some cue sentences contained noims and verbs that were hyponyms (i.e., words subordinate to the same category) of those in corresponding target sentences presented in one or two earlier passages. The role of analogical similarity in reminding was examined by varying the correspondence of noun case-role assignments of cue/target homonyms. Results indicate that retrieval competition and analogical similarity influence reminding. Recall of semanticallyrelated passages was significantly greater for structurally consistent (i.e., analogical) cues. Retrieval access was impaired when two semantically related passages were present in memory. Access to the passage with analogical resemblance to the cue was decreased by retrieval competition to an extent consistent with a ratio rule.