The effects of degree of learning, meaning, and invidual differences on the feeling-of-knowing

Abstract

Research on the feeling-of-knowing (FOK) phenomenon has established it as a valid indicator of the contents of memory and a reliable predictor of subsequent performance. It has been shown that degree of prior learning of items is one factor upon which FOK is based — the ‘overlearning’ effect. The present study was designed to determine, firstly, whether the overlearning effect is due to different numbers of presentations of physical attributes during learning, to encoding variability, or to both, and secondly, whether individual differences in the cognitive style variable of category width affect FOK judgments or accuracy. Using a delayed recall-FOK judgment-recognition paradigm, measures on these tests were obtained from narrow and broad categorizers, who learned paired-associate items to a criterion of 1 or 3 correct recalls. The target item, a homograph, to be produced in response to the cue, a number, was learned either as a word of single or multiple meaning. Results showed that a greater degree of learning did not increase FOK magnitude or accuracy, although it did increase recall and overall recognition. On the other hand, category width and encoding variability did not affect recall and recognition, but did influence magnitude and accuracy of FOK: Broad categorizers gave higher FOK ratings than narrow, and when single meanings of the target only were learned, broad categorizers gave higher ratings than narrow. This finding was not replicated in the accuracy of FOK responses: Broad categorizers were more accurate for multiple target encoding but less accurate for single. Thus FOK is influenced by semantic aspects of the target in different ways by subjects exhibiting different cognitive styles. The study places FOK firmly in the metamemory domain.