I don’t remember vs. I don’t know: Phenomenological states associated with retrieval failures

Abstract

Abstract When retrieval fails, what is the phenomenology of that experience? We explored different states of experience associated with retrieval failures that vary in intensity. Specifically, we examined the difference between not knowing and not remembering and the ways in which these states are described. Naive and expert participants defined “I don’t know” (DK) and “I don’t remember” (DR). DR was associated with lack of accessibility and forgetting, whereas DK was associated with never having learned the information. To examine whether these states map onto distinct behavioral outcomes, in two experiments, younger and older adult participants were asked general knowledge questions with the option of responding DK or DR after a retrieval failure. On a final multiple-choice test (Exp. 2) or cued recall test following correct answer feedback (Exp. 3), when an initial DK response was given, performance was generally lower than following initial DR responses, suggesting that not remembering reflects a failure in accessibility, whereas not knowing reflects the experience of not having information in the knowledge base. The effect was large and robust across ages and tests.