Prior knowledge often improves recognition, but its relationship to the retrieval of memory detail is unclear. Resource-based accounts of recognition suggest that familiar stimuli are more efficiently encoded into memory, thus freeing attentional resources to encode additional details from a study episode. However, schema-based theories would predict that activating prior knowledge can lead to the formation of more generalized representations in memory. Across a series of four experiments, we examined the relationship between prior knowledge and memory for extrinsic context (i.e., extra-item details from the surrounding study episode) and intrinsic context (i.e., memory for the precise intra-item features of the studied target itself). Familiar stimuli (famous faces and popular foods/beverages) were associated with better memory for extrinsic context, operationalized as Remember responses and objective source memory accuracy. Self-reported degree of prior knowledge associated with a given image was also predictive of this effect. Prior knowledge improved recognition memory during a surprise delayed recognition test, even under conditions in which study was unintentional, supporting the idea of efficient encoding. Critically, in a paradigm in which recognition required the correct rejection of highly perceptually similar lures, prior knowledge was associated with more false alarms. Our results suggest that stimuli associated with prior knowledge are indeed efficiently encoded into memory, freeing more attentional resources to encode extrinsic context. This benefit, however, may come at the cost of memory precision for the item itself. By examining extrinsic and intrinsic context separately, we demonstrate that resource and schema-based theories provide complementary accounts of how prior knowledge influences memory detail.

先验知识通常可以提高识别率，但其与记忆细节检索的关系尚不清楚。基于资源的认知说明表明，熟悉的刺激被更有效地编码到记忆中，从而释放注意力资源来编码研究片段中的其他细节。然而，基于图式的理论会预测，激活先验知识可以导致在记忆中形成更广泛的表征。在一系列四个实验中，我们检查了先验知识与外部背景（即周围研究情节的额外项目细节）和内部背景（即所研究目标的精确项目内特征的记忆）之间的关系本身）。熟悉的刺激（著名的面孔和流行的食物/饮料）与更好的外在环境记忆相关，可操作为记住反应和客观源记忆准确性。与给定图像相关的自我报告的先验知识程度也可以预测这种效果。在意外延迟识别测试期间，先验知识提高了识别记忆，即使在无意学习的情况下，也支持有效编码的想法。至关重要的是，在识别需要正确拒绝感知高度相似的诱饵的范式中，先验知识与更多的错误警报相关联。我们的结果表明，与先验知识相关的刺激确实被有效地编码到记忆中，释放了更多的注意力资源来编码外在上下文。然而，这个好处，可能会以项目本身的内存精度为代价。通过分别检查外在和内在上下文，我们证明了基于资源和模式的理论提供了关于先验知识如何影响记忆细节的补充说明。