Effects of the amnesic drug lorazepam on complete and partial information retrieval and monitoring accuracy

Contextual information influences the feeling of knowing in episodic memory

The feeling of knowing (FOK) predicts the likelihood of eventually recognizing currently unrecalled items. Koriat (1993, 1995) showed that retrieval of partial target information influences FOK ratings. Building on Koriat's view, the noncriterial-recollection hypothesis contends that contextual information influences FOKs (Brewer, Marsh, Clark-Foos, & Meeks, 2010). Our study assessed the validity of the noncriterial-recollection hypothesis by controlling the amount of potentially-retrievable contextual information presented to participants. We varied the amount of contextual information accompanying the name and image of imaginary animals. There were three information conditions: minimum (name and image), medium (name, image, and country), and maximum (name, image, country, diet and weight). Information condition did not affect recall accuracy. The minimum condition resulted in greater response output (recall and commission errors together). FOKs for unrecalled items were lower in the minimum condition than the other conditions. Consistent with the noncriterial-recollection hypothesis, FOKs were positively correlated with the retrieval of contextual information.

Metacognition in schizophrenia: processes underlying patients' reflections on their own episodic memory

BACKGROUND

The aim of the study was to explore the processes underlying schizophrenia patients' reflections on their own memory. Cognitive deficits and insight problems are considered core symptoms of schizophrenia. Even when people fail to recall a solicited target, they can provide feeling of knowing (FOK) judgments that reflect their ability to judge the accessibility of the target in memory. The metamemory approach allows for direct and experimental quantification of the correspondence between the subjective judgments and the objective measures of memory performance. According to the accessibility hypothesis, FOK evaluations rely on the accessibility of partial and/or contextual information relevant to the memory target.

METHODS

The accessibility of partial information relating to a memory target was investigated in 21 patients and 21 healthy comparison subjects matched for age, gender, and level of education. The material to be learned consisted of four-letter nonsense tetragrams, with each letter providing partial information about the four-letter target.

RESULTS

The results show that despite memory recall (p < .01) and recognition impairments (p = .02) and lower FOK ratings (p < .05), patients' metamemory judgments increased linearly with the amount of partial information recalled (from one letter to four letters, p < .01). The products of memory retrieval were predictive of both their FOK judgments and their subsequent memory performance.

CONCLUSIONS

Schizophrenia patients are as capable as comparison subjects of relying on the products of memory retrieval to monitor accurately their awareness of what they do or do not know. The finding may be of interest for cognitive remediation.